REMARKS 



INTERNAL EVIDENCE 



FOR THE TRUTH OF 



^tbmltts ^tliqittn. 



REMARKS 



ON THE 



INTERNAL EVIDENCE 



FOR THE TRUTH OF 



3^eb^aX^tf i^rttj3;t0n* 



By THOMAS ERSKINE, Esq. 

ADVOCATE. 



THE SIXTH EDITION. 



EDINBURGH: 
PRINTED FOR WAUGH & INNES; 

AND OGLE, DUNCAN & CO. LONDON. 

1823. 



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1^ 




INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



There is a principle in our nature v/hicli 
makes us dissatisfied with unexplained and 
unconnected facts ; which leads us to theo- 
rize all the particulars of oiu' knowledge, 
or to form in our minds some system of 
causes sufficient to explain or produce the 
effects which we see ; and which teaches us 
to believe or disbelieve in the truth of any 
system which may be presented to us, just 
as it appears adequate or inadecjuate to af- 
ford that explanation of which we are in 
pursuit. We have an intuitive perception 
that the appearances of Nature are connect- 
ed by the relation of cause and effect ; and 
we have also an instinctive desire to classify 
and arrange the seemingly confused mass of 
B 



2 

facts with which we are surrounded, ac- 
cording to this distinguishing relationshij). 
From these principles have j)roceeded all 
the theories which were ever formed by 
man. But these principles alone can never 
make a true theory : They teach us to theo- 
rize ; but experience is necessary in order to 
theorize justly. We must be acquainted 
with the ordinary operation of causes, be- 
fore we can combine them into a theory 
which will satisfy the mind. But when we 
are convinced of the real existence of a cause 
in Natm-e, and v/hen we find that a class of 
physical facts is explained by the supposi- 
tion of this cause, and tallies exactly with 
its ordinary operation, we resist both reason 
and instinct when we resist the conviction 
that this class of facts does result from this 
cause . On this process of reasoning is ground- 
ed our conviction, that the various pheno- 
mena of the heavenly bodies are results 
from the principle or law of gravitation. 
That great master of theories, Adam Smith, 
has given a most appropriate and beautiful 
illustration of this process, in his " History 
of Astronomy." He has there shown, hov/ 
the speculative system was always accom- 



3 

modated to the phenomena \vhich had been 
observed ; and how, on each new discovery 
in point of fact, a corresponding change 
necessarily took place in the form of the 
system. 

There is another process of reasoning, 
differing somewhat from that v/hich has 
been described, yet closely allied to it ; by 
which, instead of ascending from effects to 
a cause, we descend from a cause to effects. 
When we are once convinced of the exist- 
ence of a cause, and are acquainted \vith 
its ordinary mode of operation, we are pre- 
pared to give a certain degree of credit to 
a history of other effects attributed to it, 
provided we can trace the connexion be- 
tween them. As an illustration of this, I 
shall suppose, that the steam-engine, and 
the application of it to the movement of 
vessels, was knovvai in China in the days of 
Arclmuedes ; and that a foolish lying tra- 
veller had found his way from Sicily to 
China, and had there seen an exhibition of 
a steam-boat, and had been admitted to 
examine the mechanical apparatus of it, — 
and, upon his return home, had, amongst 
many palpable fables, related the true par- 



ticulars of this exhibition, — what feeling 
would this relation have probably excited 
in his audience? The fact itself was a 
strange one, and different in appearance 
from any thing with which they were ac-- 
quainted : It was also associated with other 
stories that seemed to have falsehood stamp- 
ed on the veiy face of them. What means, 
then, had the hearers of distinguishing the 
true from the false ? Some of the rabble 
might probably give a stupid and wonder- 
ing land of credit to the whole ; whilst the 
judicious but unscientific hearers would re- 
ject the whole. Now, supposing that the 
relation had come to the ears of Archime- 
des, and that he had sent for the man, and 
interrogated him ; and, from his unorderly 
and unscientific, but accurate specification 
of boilers, and cylinders, and pipes, and fur- 
naces, and wheels, had drawn out the me- 
chanical theory of the steam-boat, — he 
might have told his friends, ^\ The travel- 
ler may be a liar ; but this is a truth. I have 
a stronger evidence for it than his testi- 
mony, or the testimony of any man : It is a 
truth in the nature of things. The effect 
which the man has described is the legiti- 



mate and certain result of the apparatus 
which he has described. If he has fabri- 
cated this account, he must be a great phi- 
losopher. At ail events, his narration is 
founded on an unquestionable general 
tinith," Had the traveller committed an 
error in his specification, that defect would 
have operated as an obstacle to the convic- 
tion of Archimedes ; because, where the 
facts which are testified constitute the parts 
of a system, they must, in order to produce 
conviction, be viewed in their relation to one 
another, and in their combined bearing on 
the general result. Unless they are thus 
viewed, they are not seen as they really ex- 
ist, — they do not hold their proper ground. 
A single detached pipe or boiler or valve 
could not produce the effects of the steam.- 
engine ; and a man who knows no more 
about it than that it contains such a de- 
tached part, may very well laugh at the ef- 
fects related of the whole machine ; but, in 
truth, the fault lies in his own ignorance of 
the subject. 

But these two processes of reasoning 
which have been described, are not exclu- 
sively appUed to physical causes and effects : 



6 

We reason precisely in the same way with 
regard to men and their actions, ^^^len the 
history of a man's life is presented to ns, we 
natiu'ally theorize upon it ; and, from a com- 
parison of the different facts contained in 
it, we arrive at a conviction that he was 
actuated by ambition, avarice, benevolence, 
or some other principle. We know that 
these princij)les exist, and we know also 
their ordinary mode of operation : ^Mien, 
therefore, we see the operation, we refer it 
to the cause which best explains it. In this 
manner we arrange the characters with 
which we are acquainted tmder certain 
classes ; and we anticipate the conduct of 
om' friends when they come to be placed in 
certain circmnstances. And when we are at 
a distance from any of them, and recei^'e an 
accomit of their conduct upon some parti- 
cular occasion, we give ou.r unhesitating be- 
lief at once, if the accoimt coincides with 
that abstract view which we have taken of 
their characters ; but if it varies very con- 
siderably from or is directly opposed to that 
view, we refuse our immediate belief, and 
wait for further evidence. Thus, if we hear 
that a friend, in whose integrity we have 



perfect confidence, has committed a dis- 
honest action, we place our former know- 
ledge of om* friend in opposition to the 
testimony of our informer, and we anxi- 
ously look for an explanation. Before our 
minds are easy on the subject, we must 
either discover some circumstance in the 
action which may bring it under the ge- 
neral principle which we have formed with 
regard to his character, or else we must 
form to ourselves some new general prin- 
ciple which will explain it. 

We reason in the same way of the in- 
telligence of actions as we do of theh' mo- 
rality. ^^Tien we see an object obtained by 
means of a plan evidently adapted for its 
accomplishment, we refer the formation of 
the plan to design. We reason in this case 
also from the cause to the effect ; and we 
conclude, that a strong intelligence, when 
combined with a desire after a particular 
object, will form and execvite some plan 
adapted to the accomplishment of that par- 
ticular object. An ambitious man of ta- 
lents will, we are siu-e, fix his desires on 
some particular situation of eminence, and 
will form some scheme fitted for its attain- 



8 

ment. If an intimate and judicious friend 
of Julius Csesar had retired to some distant 
corner of the world, before the commence- 
ment of the political career of that wonder- 
ful man, and had there received an accurate 
history of every cuTumstance of his conduct, 
how would he have received it ? He would 
cei*tainly have believed it ; and not merely 
because he knew that Caesar was ambitious, 
but also because he could discern that every 
step of his progress, as recorded in the his- 
tory was adapted ^^^ith admu'able intelli- 
gence to accomplish the object of his am- 
bition. His belief of the history, therefom 
would rest on two considerations, — first, 
that the object attributed by it to Caesar 
corresponded ^Yiih the general principle im- 
der which he had classed the moral charac- 
ter of C^sar ; and, secondly, that there was 
evident, through the com'se of the history, a 
perfect adaptation of means to an end. He 
would have believed just on the same prin- 
ciple that compelled Archimedes to believe 
the history of the steam-boat. 

In all these processes of reasonmg, we 
have examples of conviction, upon an evi- 
dence which is, most strictly speaking, in- 



9 

ternal, — an evidence altogether independ- 
ent of oiu' confidence in the veracity of the 
narrator of the facts. 

Sui'ely, then, in a system which piu'ports 
to be a revelation from heaven, and to con- 
tain a history of God's dealings with men, 
and to develop truths with regard to the 
moral government of the universe, the knov/-. 
ledge and behef of which will lead to hap- 
piness here and hereafter, we may expect to 
find {if its pretensions are well founded) an 
evidence for its truth, wliich shall be inde- 
pendent of all external testimony. But what 
are the precise principles on which the inter- 
nal evidence for or against a Divine revela- 
tion of rehgion must rest? We cannot have 
any internal evidence on a subject which is in 
all its parts and bearings and relations en- 
tirely new to us ; because, in tnith, the in- 
ternal evidence depends solely on our know- 
ledge that certain causes are followed by 
ceilain effects : Therefore, if a new train of 
causes and eflTects perfectly different from 
any thing which we have before known, be 
presented to us, all our notions of probabi- 
lity, all our anticipations of results, and all 
om' references to causes, by which we are 
B 2 



10 



accustomed to judge of theories and his- 
tories, become utterly useless. In the hy- 
pothetical case of Archimedes deciding on 
the story of the steam-boat , the judgment 
which he may be supposed to have given 
v/as gi'ounded on his belief that similar 
causes would produce similar effects, and 
on his experience that the causes which 
the traveller specified were actually follow- 
ed in natm'e by the effects which he speci- 
fied. The philosopher had never seen this 
particvlar combination of causes ; but he 
knew each distinct cause, with its distinct 
train of consequents ; and thus he antici- 
pated the general result of the combina- 
tion. 

So also the credit attached to the nar- 
rative of Caesar's exploits, by his distant 
friend, w^as grounded on the conviction that 
ambition would lead Caesar to aim at em- 
pire, and on the knowledge that this ob- 
ject could not be attained except by that 
course which Caesar pursued. Although 
the circumstances were new, he could al- 
most have predicted, from analogy, that, 
whether the design proved finally success- 
ful or not, Caesar Vv^ould certainly form the 



11 

design, and constnict some such plan for its 
accomplishment . 

Om' acquaintance, then, with certain 
causes as necessarily connected with cer- 
tain effects, and om' intuitive conviction 
that this same connexion will always sub- 
sist between these causes and effects, form 
the basis of all ciu' just anticipations for the 
futm-e, and of all om' notions of probability 
and internal evidence, with regard to the 
systems or histories, both physical and mo- 
ral, which may be presented to us. 

If, then, the subject-matter of Divine 
revelation be entu'ely nevr to us. we caimot 
possibly have any gi'omid on which we may 
rest om' judgment as to its probability. But 
is this the case with that system of religion 
which is called Clmstianity ? Is the object 
which it has in view an entii^ely new object? 
Is the moral mechanism which it employs 
for the accomphshment of that object, dif- 
ferent in kind from that moral mechanism 
which we om'selves set to work every day 
upon om* fellow-creatures whose conduct 
we wish to influence in some particiUar di- 
rection, or from that by which we feel om-- 
selves to be led in the ordinary com'se of 



12 

providence ? Is the character of the Great 
Being to whose inspiration this system is 
ascribed^ and whose actions are recorded by 
it, entirely unknown to ns, except through 
the medium of this revelation ? Far from it. 
Like Archimedes in the case which I have 
supposed, we have never before seen this 
particular combination of causes brought 
to bear on this particular combination of 
results ; but we are acquainted with each 
particular cause, and we can trace its dis- 
tinct train of consequents ; and thus we can 
understand the relation between the whole 
of the combined causes and the whole of the 
combined results. 

The first faint outline of Christianity pre- 
sents to us a view of God operating on the 
characters of men through a manifestation 
of his own character, in order that, by lead- 
ing them to participate in some measure 
of his moral likeness, they may also in 
some measure participate of his happiness. 
Every man who believes in the existence 
of a Supreme Moral Governor, and has 
considered the relations in which this be- 
lief places him, must have fonned to him- 
self some scheme of religion analogous to 



13 

that which I have described. The indica* 
tions of the divine character, in nature, and 
providence, and conscience, were surely 
given to direct and instruct us in our rela- 
tions to God and his creatiu'es. The indi- 
cations of his kindness have a tendency to 
attract our gratitude, and the indications 
of his disapprobation to check and alarm 
us. We infer that his own character truly 
embodies all those equalities which he ap- 
proves, and is perfectly free from all which 
he condemns. The man who adopts this 
scheme of natm^al religion, which, though 
deficient in point of practical influence over 
the human mind, as shall be afterwards ex- 
plained, is yet true, — and who has learned 
from experience to refer actions to their 
moral causes, — is in possession of all the 
elementary principles vdiich qualify him to 
judge of the internal evidence of Christian- 
ity. He can judge of Christianity as the 
inide ship-carpenter of a barbarous age could 
judge of a British shij) of the line, or as 
the scientific anatomist of the eye could 
judge of a telescope which he had never 
seen before. 



14 

He who holds this scheme of natural re- 
ligion, will believe in its truth (and I con- 
ceive justly), because it lu'ges him to what 
is good, deters him from what is evil, and 
coincides generally with all that he feels 
and observes ; and this very belief ^^^hich 
he holds on these grounds, will naturally 
lead him to believe in the truth of another 
scheme which tends directly to the same 
moral object, but much more specifically 
and powerfully, and coincides much more 
minutely with his feelings and observa- 
tions. 

The perfect moral tendency of its doc- 
trines, is a ground on which the Bible of- 
ten rests its plea of authenticity and im- 
portance. "^Tliatever principle of belief 
tends to promote real moral perfection, pos- 
sesses in some degree the quality of truth. 
By moral perfection, I mean the percep- 
tion of what is right, followed by the love 
of it and the doing of it. This cjuality, 
therefore, necessarily implies a trae view 
of the relations in which w^e stand to all 
the beings with whom we are connected. 
In this sense. Pope's famous line is per- 
fectly just, — '' His (faith) can't be wrong, 



15 

whose life is in the right." But it is evi- 
dent, that a man may be a very useful 
member of this world's society, without ever 
thinking of the true relation in which he 
stands to the beings about him. Pru- 
dence, honourable feelings, and instinctive 
good-nature, may insure to any man, in or- 
dinary times, an excellent reputation. But 
the scene of our present contemplation lies 
in the spiritual miiverse of God, and the 
character that we speak of must be adapt* 
ed to that society. We cannot but be- 
lieve that true moral perfection contains 
the elements of happiness in that higher 
state ; and therefore we cannot but believe 
that that view of our moral relations, and 
of the beings to whom we are so related, 
which leads to this moral perfection, must 
be the true view. But if the attainment 
of this character be the important object, 
why lay so much stress upon any particu- 
lar view ? The reason is obvious : We 
cannot, according to the constitution of our 
natm-e, induce upon om' minds any parti- 
cular state of moral feeling without an ade- 
cjuate cause. We cannot feel anger, or 
love, or hatred, or fear, by simply endea- 



16 

voui'ing so to feel; In order to have the 
feeling, we must have some object present 
to our minds which will natm-ally excite 
the feeling. Therefore, as moral perfec- 
tion consists of a combination of moral feel- 
ings (leading to correspondent action), it 
can only have place in a mind which is un- 
der the impression or has a present view of 
those objects v/hich naturally produce that 
combination of feelings. 

The object of this Dissertation is to an- 
alyse the component parts of the Christian 
scheme of doctrine, with reference to its 
bearings both on the character of God and 
on the character of man ; and to demon- 
strate, that its facts not only present an ex- 
pressive exhibition of all the moral quali- 
ties which can be conceived to reside in the 
Divine mind, but also contain all those ob- 
jects which have a natm-al tendency to ex- 
cite and suggest in the human mind that 
combination of moral feelings which has 
been termed moral perfection. We shall 
thus arrive at a conclusion with regard to 
the facts of revelation, analogous to that at 
which Archimedes arrived with regard to 
the narrative of the traveller, — viz. a con- 



17 

viction that they contain a general truth 
in relation to the characters both of God 
and of man ; and that therefore the Apos- 
tles must either have witnessed them, as 
they assert, or they must have been the 
most marvellous philosophers that the world 
ever saw. Their system is true in the 
natm'e of things, even were they proved 
to be impostors. 

"WTien God, through his prophet Jere- 
miah, refutes the pretensions of the false 
teachers of that day, he says, — " If they 
had stood in my counsel, and had caused 
my people to hear my words, then they 
should have tm-ned them from their evil 
way, and from the evil of their doings." 
This moral tendency of its doctrines, then, 
is the evidence which the book itself ap- 
peals to for the proof of its authenticity ; 
and sm'ely it is no more than justice, that 
this evidence should be candidly examin- 
ed. This is an evidence, also, on which 
the apostle Paul frequently rests the whole 
weight of the gospel. 

According to this theory of the mode in 
which a rational judgment of the truth and 
excellence of a religion may be formed, it 



18 

is not enough to show, in proof of its au- 
thenticity, that the facts which it affirms 
concerning the dealings of God with his 
creatures, do exhibit his moral perfections 
in the highest degree ; it must also be 
shown, that these facts, when present to 
the mind of man, do natm-ally, according 
to the constitution of his being, tend to 
excite and suggest that combination of feel- 
ings which constitutes his moral perfection. 
But when we read a history which author- 
itatively claims to be an exhibition of the 
character of God in his dealings with men, 
—if we find in it that which fills and over- 
flows our most dilated conceptions of moral 
worth and loveliness in the Supreme Be- 
ing, and at the same time feel that it is 
triumphant in every appeal that it makes 
to om' consciences, in its statements of the 
obliquity and corruption of om' own hearts, 
— and if om' reason farther discovers a sj's- 
tem of powerful moral stimulants, embo- 
died in the facts of this history, which ne- 
cessarily tend to produce in the mind a re- 
semblance to that high character which is 
there pourtrayed, — if we discern that the 
spirit of this history gives peace to the 



19 

conscience by the very exhibition which 
quickens its sensibility — that it dispels the 
terrors of guilt by the very fact which as- 
sociates sin with the full loathing of the 
heart — that it combines in one wondi'ous 
and consistent whole our most fearful fore- 
bodings and our most splendid anticipa- 
tions for futm'ity — that it inspkes a pure 
and elevated and joyful hope for eternity, 
by those very declarations which attach a 
deeper and more interesting obligation to 
the discharge of the minutest part of hu- 
man duty, — if we see that the object of all 
its tendencies is the perfection of moral 
happiness, and that these tendencies are 
naturally connected with the belief of its 
narration, — if we see all this in the gospel, 
we may then say that om' own eyes have 
seen its truth, and that we need no other 
testimony : We may then well believe that 
God has been pleased, in pity to oiu' Avretch- 
edness, and in condescension to om' feeble- 
ness, to clothe the eternal laws which re- 
gulate his spiritual government, in such a 
form as may be palpable to our concep- 
tions, and adapted to the urgency of oiu: 
necessities^ 



20 



This tlieoiy of internal evidence, though 
founded on analogy, is yet essentially dif- 
ferent in ahnost all respects from that view 
of the subject which Bishop Butler has 
given, in his most valuable and philosophi- 
cal work on the analogy between natural 
and revealed religion. His design was to 
answer objections against revealed religion, 
arising out of the difficulties connected with 
many of its doctrines, by showing that pre- 
cisely the same difficulties occur in natural 
religion and in the ordinary course of pro- 
vidence. This argument converts even the 
difficulties of revelation into evidences of 
its genuineness ; because it employs them 
to establish the identity of the Author of 
Revelation and the Author of Nature. My 
object is quite different. I mean to show 
that there is an intelligible and necessary 
connexion between the doctrinal facts of re- 
velation and the character of God (as de- 
duced from natural religion), in the same 
way as there is an intelligible and neces- 
sary connexion between the character of a 
man and his most characteristic actions ; 
and farther, that the belief of these doctri- 
nal facts has an intelligible and necessary 



21 

tendency to produce the Christian charac- 
ter, in the same way that the belief of dan- 
ger has an intelligible and necessary ten- 
dency to produce fear. 

Perhaps it may appear to some minds, 
thai although all this should be admitted, 
little or no Vv-^eight has been added to the 
evidence for the truth of revelation. These 
persons have been in the habit of thinking 
that the miraculous inspiration of the Scrip- 
tm-es is the sole point of importance : 
"Whereas the inspiration, when demon- 
strated, is no more than an evidence for the 
tnith of that system which is communicat- 
ed through this channel. If the Christian 
system be true, it v^ould have been so al- 
though it had never been miraculously re- 
vealed to men. This i)rinciple, at least, is 
completely recognized with regard to the 
moral precepts. The duties of justice and 
benevolence are acknowledged to be reali- 
ties altogether independent of the enforce- 
ments of any inspired revelation. The cha- 
racter of God is just as immutable, and as 
independent of any inspired revelation, as 
these duties ; and so also are the acts of 
government proceeding from this charac- 



22 

ter. We cannot have stronger evidence for 
any truth whatever, than that which we 
have for the reality of moral obligations. 
Upon this basis has been reared the sys- 
tem of natm-al religion as far as relates to 
the moral character of God, by simply 
clothing the Supreme Being with all the 
moral excellencies of human nature in an 
infinite degree. A system of religion which 
is opposed to these moral obligations, is op- 
posed also to right reason. This sense of 
moral obligation then, which is the stand- 
ard to which reason instructs man to ad- 
just his system of natm-al religion, conti- 
nues to be the test by which he ought to 
try all pretensions to divine revelation. If 
the actions ascribed to God by any system 
of religion present a view of the divine cha- 
ractei which is at variance with the idea 
of moral perfection, we have no reason to 
believe that these are really the actions of 
God. But if, on the contrary, they have 
a strong and distinct tendency to elevate 
and dilate our notions of goodness, and 
are in perfect harmony with these notions, 
we have reason to believe that they may 
be the actions of God ; because they are 



23 

intimately connected with those moral con- 
victions which form the first principles of 
all om' reasonings on this subject. This, 
then, is the first reasonable test of the truth 
of a religion — that it should coincide with 
the moral constitution of the human mind. 
But, secondly, we know, that, independent- 
ly of all moral reasoning or consideration, 
our minds, by their natnral constitution, 
are liable to receive certain impressions 
from certain objects when present to them. 
Thus, without any exercise of the moral 
judgment, they are liable to the impres- 
sions of love and hatred, and fear and hope, 
when certain corresponding objects are pre- 
sented to them. And it is evident that 
the moral character is determined by the 
habitual direction which is given to these 
affections. Now if the actions attributed 
to God by any system of religion, be really 
such objects, as when present to the mind, 
do not stir the affections at all, that reli- 
gion cannot influence the character, and is 
therefore utterly useless : If they be such 
as do indeed rouse the affections, but at the 
same time give them a wi'ong direction, 
that reUgion is worse than useless — it is 



24 

pernicious : But if they can be shown to 
be such as have a necessary tendency to 
excite these natural emotions on the be- 
half of goodness, and to draw the current 
of our affections and wills into this moral 
channel, we are entitled to draw another 
argument, from this circumstance, in fa- 
vour of the truth of that religion ; because 
we may presume that God would suit his 
communications to the capacities and in- 
stincts of his creatures. The second test, 
then, of the truth of a religion, is — that it 
should coincide with the physical constitu- 
tion of the human mind. But, farther, 
there is much moral evil and much misery 
in the world. There are many bad pas- 
sions in the mind ; and there is a series of 
events continually going forward, which 
tend to excite a great variety of feelings. 
Now, a religion has one of the characters 
of truth, when it is accommodated to all 
these circumstances, — when it offers par- 
don without lowering the standard of mo- 
ral duty ; when its principles convert the 
varied events into opportunities of growing 
in conformity to God, and of acquiring the 
character of happiness ; and when it tern- 



25 

pers the elevation of prosperity, and the de- 
pression of adversity. The third test^ then, 
of the trnth of a religion, is, — that it should 
couicide with the circumstances in which 
man is found in this world. It may l3e 
said, that a religion in which these three 
conditions meet, rests upon the most in- 
disputable axioms of the science of human 
natm'e. All these conditions can be proved 
to meet in the religion of the Bible ; and 
the wide divergence from them which is so 
palpable in all other religious systems, phi- 
losophical as well as popular, which have 
come to oiu' knowledge, is a very strong 
argument for the Divine inspiration of the 
Bible, especially when the artless simpli- 
city of its manner, and the circmnstances 
of the comitry in which it was ^\Titten, are 
taken into consideration. 

It may be proper to remark, that the 
acts attributed to the Divine govermnent 
are usually termed -^ doctrines," to distin- 
guish them from the moral precepts of a 
religion. 

When I make use of the terms " mani- 
festation" and " exhibition," which I shall 
have frequent occasion to do in the course 
c 



26 

of the following observations, I am very far 
from meaning any thing like a mere sem- 
blance of action Vvithoiit the substance. In 
fact, nothing can be a true manifestation 
of the Divine character, v/hich is not, at 
the same time, a direct and necessary re- 
sult of the Divine principles, and a true 
narration of the Divine conduct. But 
these terms suit best with the leading idea 
which I wish to explain, — viz. that the 
facts of revelation are developments of the 
moral principles of the Deity, and carry 
an influential address to the feelings of 
man. The whole of their importance, in- 
deed, hinges upon their being a reality ; 
and it is the truth of this reality which 
is demonstrated by their holy consistency 
with the character of their Author, and 
their sanctifying applicability to the hearts 
of his creatures. I may observe also, that, 
in the illustrations which are introduced, I 
have aimed rather at a broad and general 
resemblance than at a minute coincidence 
in all particvilars, which is perhaps not at- 
tainable in any comparison between earthly 
things and heavenly. 



27 

I. As it is a matter of the very highest 
importance in the study of religion, to be 
fully satisfied that there is a real connexion 
between happiness and the knowledge and 
love of God, I have commenced these re- 
marks by explaining the nature of this 
connexion. I have here endeavoured to 
show, that the object of a true religion 
must be to present to the minds of men 
such a view of the character of their great 
Governor, as may not only enable them to 
comprehend the principles of his govern- 
ment, but may also attract their affections 
into a conformity with them. 

11. I have made some observations on 
the mode in which natm'al religion exhi- 
bits the Divine character, and in which it 
appeals to the human understanding and 
feelings. And here I have remarked the 
great advantage which a general principle 
of morality possesses in its appeals to minds 
constituted like ours, when it comes forth 
to us in the shape of an intelligible and 
palpable action, beyond what it possesses 
in its abstract form. 



28 

III. I have attempted to show that Chris- 
tianity possesses this advantage in the high- 
est degree ; that its facts are nothing more 
than the abstract principles of natural re- 
ligion, embodied in perspicuity and effi- 
ciency'^ ; and that these facts not only 
give a lively representation of the perfect 
character of God, but also contain in them- 

* This last proposition which appeared as it now stands, in 
former editions of this work, has been subjected to considerable 
censure, and not without justice as it has been understood. Had I 
meant by this, that the facts of Christianity could have been anti- 
cipated by any one who was acquainted with the principles of 
natural religion — or that no new information was communicated 
by the gospel, I should have been opposing the claim, and giving 
up the importance of revelation. Man never could have discovered 
tlie plan of salvation ; but after it is revealed, he can perceive its 
agreement with those principles which had been previously ac- 
knowledged. That God must always act in consistency with 
botli justice and mercy, the natural religionist believes ; but how 
these attributes can be brought into liarmonious contact in the 
restoration of the guilty, he knows not. When, however, the 
doctrine of the cross of Christ is understood by him, he immediately 
recognizes in it the full maturity and development of principles 
which he had known in their elementary seeds. The information 
of the gospel is new, but not strange. Two recognized attributes 
of the Deity are manifested in a new connexion, but no new 
attribute is introduced. I should now prefer that the proposition 
had been expressed diiferently, as thus, *^ That its facts do embody 
in perspicuity and efficiency the abstract principles of natural 
religion,'* I am aware also that there is a considerable vagueness 
in the term " natural religion ;" but there is no other word for it» 
and metaphysical accuracy is not of much moment here. 



29 

selves the strength of the most irresistible 
moral arguments that one man could ad- 
dress to another on any hmnan interests. 

IV. I have endeavoured to analyse some 
of the causes of the general indifference to 
or rejection of real Christianity, and to point 
out the sources of the multiplied mistakes 
Avhich are made with regard to its nature. 
I have here made some observations on the 
indisposition of the hmnan mind to attend 
to an argument which opposes any favourite 
inclination ; on the opposition of Chi'isti- 
anity, to the prevailing cm^rent of the hu- 
man character ; and on the bad effects aris- 
ing from the common practice of deriving 
our notions of religion rather from the com- 
positions of men than from the Bible. In- 
fidels are not in general acquainted, through 
the Bible itself, with the system of revela- 
tion ; and therefore they are inaccessible to 
that evidence for it which arises out of the 
discovery that its doctrinal facts all tally 
exactly with the character which its pre- 
cepts inculcate. I have here also illustrated 
this coincidence bet\^Ten the doctrines and 
the precepts of the Bible in several parti- 



so 

culars. If the Christian character is the 
character of true and immortal happiness, 
the system must be true which necessarily 
leads to that character. 

V. I have endeavoured to show the need 
that men have for some system of spiritual 
renovation ; and I have inferred from the 
preceding argument, that no such system 
could be really efficient, unless it resembled 
Christianity in its structure and mode of 
enforcement. 

VI. I have shown the connexion between 
the external and internal evidence for re- 
velation. 



OS THE 



INTERNAL EVIDENCE 



FOR THE TRUTH 0? 



^tbmlt'ti ^(liQiixn. 



SECTION I. 



When it is said that happiness is neces- 
sarily and exckisively connected ^yith a 
resemblance to the Divine character, it is 
evident that the word " happiness" must be 
imderstood in a restricted sense. It can- 
not be denied, that many vicious men en- 
joy much gratification through life ; nor 
can it even be denied, that this gratifica- 
tion is derived in a great measm'e from 
their very vices. This fact is, no doubt, 
very perplexing, as every question must be 
which is connected with the origin of evil : 
But still, it is no more perplexing than the 
origin of evil, or than the hypothesis that 
our present life is a state of trial and dis- 
cipline. Temptation to evil, evidently im- 



32 

plies a sense of gratification proceeding from 
evil ; and evil could not have existed with- 
out this sense of gratification connected 
with it. So, also, this life could not be a 
state of trial and discipline in good, unless 
there were some inducement or temptation 
to evil, — that is, unless there were some 
sense of gratification attending evil. It pro- 
bably does not lie within the compass of 
human faculties to give a completely satis- 
factory ansvv^er to these questions ; whilst 
yet it may be rationally maintained,^ that 
if there is a propriety in this life being a 
state of discipline, there must also be a pro- 
priety in sin being connected with a sense 
of gratification. But then, may not this 
vicious gratification be extended through 
eternity, as well as through a year or an 
hour ? I cannot see any direct impossibility 
in this supposition, on natural principles ; 
and yet I feel that the assertion of it sounds 
very much like the contradiction of an in- 
tuitive truth. 

There is a gi-eat difference between the 
happiness enjoyed with the approbation of 
conscience, and that which is felt without 
it or against it. ^^^len the conscience is 



33 

very sensitive, the gratification arising from 
vice cannot be very great : The natural pro- 
cess, therefore, by which such gratification 
is obtained or heightened, is by hiUing or 
deadening the conscience. This is accom- 
plished by habitually turning the attention 
from the distinction of good and evil, and 
directing it to the cu'cmnstances which con- 
stitute vicious gi'atification. 

The testimony of conscience is that ver- 
dict which every man returns for or against 
himself upon the question, whether his mo- 
ral character has kept pace with his moral 
judgment ? This verdict will therefore be, 
in relation to absolute moral truth, correct 
or incorrect, in proportion to the degree of 
illumination possessed by the moral judg- 
ment ; and the feeling of remorse will be 
more or less painful, according to the in- 
equality which subsists between the judg- 
ment and the character. Allien a man, 
therefore, by dint of perseverance, has 
brought his judgment down to the le^'el of 
his character, and has trained his reason to 
call evil good and good evil, he has gained 
a victory over conscience, and expelled re- 
morse. If he could maintain this advau-^ 
C 2 



34 

tage through his whole existence, his con- 
duct would admit of a most rational justi- 
fication. But then, his peace is built solely 
on the darkness of his moral judgment ; 
and therefore, all that is necessary in order 
to make him miserable, and to stir up a civil 
w^ar within his breast, would be to throw 
such a strong and indubious light on the 
perfect character of goodness, as might ex- 
tort from him an acknowledgment of its 
excellency, and force him to contrast with it 
his own past history and present condition. 
Whilst his mental eye is held in fascina- 
tion by this glorious vision, he cannot but 
feel the anguish of remorse ; he cannot but 
feel that he is at fearful strife with some 
mighty and mysterious being, whose power 
has compelled even his o^vn heart to exe- 
cute vengeance on him ; nor can he hide 
from himself the loathsomeness and pollu- 
tion of that spiritual pestilence, which has 
poisoned every organ of his moral constitu- 
tion. He can hope to escape from this 
wretchedness, only by withdrawing his gaze 
from the appalling brightness ; and, in this 
world, such an attempt can generally be 
made with success. But suppose him to 



35 

be placed in such circumstances that there 
should be no retreat — no diversity of 
objects which might divert or divide his 
attention — and that, wherever he tm^ned, 
he was met and fairly confronted by this 
threatening Spirit of Goodness, — it is im- 
possible that he could have any respite 
from misery, except in a respite from exist- 
ence. If this should be the state of tilings 
in the next world, we may form some 
conception of the miion there between vice 
and misery. 

TYhilst we stand at a distance from a 
fui'nace, the effect of the heat on our 
bodies gives us little uneasiness ; but as we 
approach it, the natural opposition man- 
ifests itself, and the pain is increased by 
every step that we advance. The compli- 
cated system of this world's business and 
events, forms, as it were, a veil before our 
eyes, and interposes a kind of moral dis- 
tance between us and our God, through 
which the radiance of his character shines 
but indistinctly, so that we can withhold 
our attention from it if we will : The op- 
position which exists between his perfect 
holiness and our corrupt propensities, does 



36 

not force itself upon us at every step : His 
views and purposes may run contrary to 
ours ; but as they do not often meet us iir 
the form of a direct and personal encounter, 
we contrive to wai'd off the conviction that 
we ai'e at hostility with the Lord of the 
Universe, and think that we may enjoy 
ourselves in the intervals of these much- 
dreaded visitations, without feeling the ne- 
cessity of bringing om' habits into a perfect 
conformity with his. But when death re- 
moves this veil, by dissolving om' connexion 
with this world and its works, we may be 
brought into a closer and more percei3tible 
contact with Him who is of purer eyes than 
to behold iniquity. In that spiritual world, 
we may suppose, that each event, even the 
minutest part of the whole system of go- 
vernment, will bear such an unequivocal 
stamp of the Divine character, that an in- 
telligent being, of opposite views and feel- 
ings, will at every moment feel itself galled 
and thwarted and born down by the direct 
and overwhelming encounter of this all- 
pervading and almighty mind. And here 
it should be remembered, that the Divine 
go^^ernmeut does not, like human author- 



37 

ity^ skim tlie surface, nor content itself with 
an imresisting exterior and professions of 
submission; but comes close to the thoughts, 
and carries its summons to the affections 
and ihe will, and i3enetrates to those re- 
cesses of the soul, where, whilst we are in 
this world, we often take a pride and a plea- 
sm-e in fostering the unyielding sentiments 
of hatred and contempt, even tow^ards that 
superiority of force which has subdued and 
fettered and silenced us. 

The man who believes in revelation, will^ 
of course, receive this view as the truth of 
God ; and even the unbeliever in revela- 
tion, if he admits the existence of an Al- 
mighty Being of a perfect moral charac- 
ter, and if he see no imlikelihood in the 
supposition that the mixtm^e of good and 
evil, and the process of moral discij)line 
connected with it, are to cease with this 
stage of our being, even he cannot but feel 
that there is a strong probability in favour 
of such an anticipation. 

We see, then, how vicious men may be 
happy to a certain degree in this world, and 
yet be miserable in the next, ^vithout sup- 
posing any very great alteration in the 



88 

general system of God's government, and 
without taking into account any thing like 
positive infliction as the cause of their mi- 
sery. And it may be observed, that this 
view gives to vice a form and an extent 
and. a power very different from what is 
generally ascribed to it amongst men. 
We are here conversant chiefly about ex- 
ternals ; and therefore the name of vice is 
more commonly applied to external conduct 
than to internal character. But, in the 
world of spirits, it is not so. There^ a dis- 
sonance in principle and object from the 
Father of Spirits, constitutes vice, and is 
identified with unhappiness. So that a man 
who has here passed a useful and dignified 
life, upon principles different from those of 
the Divine character, must, when under 
the direct action of that character, feel a 
want of adjustment and an opposition 
which cannot but mar or exclude happi- 
ness. Thus, also, the effects of pride, of 
vanity, or of selfishness, when combined 
with prudence, may often be most benefi- 
cial in the world ; and yet, if these prin- 
ciples are in opposition to God's character, 
they must disqualify the minds in which 



39 

they reign for participating in the joys of 
heaven. The joys of heaven are described 
in Scripture to consist in a resemblance to 
God, or in a cheerful and sympathising 
submission to his will ; and as man na- 
turally follows the impulse of his own pro- 
pensities, without reference to the will of 
God, it is evident that a radical change of 
principle is necessary, in order to capacitate 
him for that happiness. 

It was to produce this necessary and sa- 
lutary change, that the gospel was sent 
from Heaven. It bears upon it the charac- 
ter of God. It is not, therefore, to be won- 
dered at, that those whose principles are 
opposed to that character, should also be 
opposed to the gospel. Christianity thus 
anticipates the discoveries of death : It re- 
moves the veil which hides God from our 
sight ; it brings the system of the spiritual 
world to act upon our consciences ; it pre- 
sents us with a specimen of God's higher 
and interior government ; it gives us a 
nearer view of his character in its true pro- 
portions, and thus marks out to us the 
points in which we differ from him ; it con- 
demns with his authority; it smiles and in- 



40 

vites with his uncompromising purity. The 
man who dislikes all this, will reject Chris- 
tianity, and replace the veil, and endeavour 
to forget the awful secrets which it conceals ; 
and may perhaps be only at last roused from 
his delusion, by finding himself face to face 
before the God whose warnings he had ne- 
glected, and whose offers of friendship he 
had disregarded, — offers which, had they 
been accepted, would have brought his will 
into concord with that sovereign will v/hich 
rules the universe, and fitted him to take a 
joyful and sympathising interest in every 
part of the Divine administration. 

Of the attractive and overcoming loveli- 
ness of the character of God, as revealed in 
his word, and of the invitations which he 
makes to sinners, I shall speak afterwards ; 
but in the mean time, I would draw the at- 
tention of the reader to the serious consi- 
deration of the fact, that a dissonance in 
principle from the Ruler of the Universe, 
cannot but be connected with some degree 
of unhappiness. Although I believe that 
few minds will feel much difficulty in ac- 
quiescing in some measure in the truth of 
this remark, and although there is no intri- 



41 

cacy in the reasoning connected with it, yet 
as distinct conceptions on this subject are 
of prime importance in all views of religion, 
I shall illustrate it by an analogy drawn 
from the more palpable and better under- 
stood affairs of this material world, with 
which we are surrounded. We may find 
striking examples to this purpose in a pe- 
riod of English history, wdiich was distin- 
guished above all others for the remark- 
able contrasts which it exhibited in public 
sentiment and principle amongst the dif- 
ferent classes of the nation, and is therefore 
peculiarly fitted for elucidating the effects 
produced on happiness, by an opposition in 
principle between the ruling power and a 
part of its subjects. 

It is easy to imagine the stern and com- 
posed satisfaction with wliich a thorough 
partisan of Cromwell would contemplate 
the rigid and formal solemnity which over- 
spread the Government and the people of 
England dvu'ing the Protectorship. But 
whence did this satisfaction arise ? Certain- 
ly from that concord which subsisted be- 
tween his own habits and those of the ruling 
power. His views and inclinations coiucid- 



42 

ed at all points Avitli those of the Govern- 
ment ; and therefore every measure of ad- 
ministration was a source of gratification to 
him, because it was in fact an expression of 
his own will. He was thus in a state of 
political happiness ; and had there been no 
higher government than the Common- 
wealth, through the universe or through 
eternity, he must have been perfectly and 
permanently happy. Now, let us carry for- 
ward this same individual to the days of 
Charles the Second, and place him in the 
near neighboui-hood of that gay and disso- 
lute court. We can in this situation sup- 
pose him moving about with a double mea- 
sm'e of gloom in his countenance, and with 
a heart imbittered by the general mirth, 
and iiTitated by the continual encounter of 
character and opinions and habits directly 
opposed to his own. He retires to a dis- 
tance from the seat of Government, and 
endeavours to hide himself from these pain- 
ful conflicts in the bosom of his family. 
There the arrangements are all conducted 
according to his own principles and his o^ti 
taste; and he enjoj^s a tolerable state of 
happiness, though liable to occasional in- 



43 

terruptions from public news, from whispers 
that he is to be apprehended on suspicion 
of treason, from the intrusion of Govern- 
ment officers, and from a want of thorough 
spnpathy on political subjects even per- 
haps in the members of his own domestic 
circle. All at once, his quiet is destroyed 
by an order fi'om coml to leave his seclu- 
sion, and reside in the metropolis, that he 
may be more immediately under the eye of 
Government. Here again he is brought 
face to face with all that he hates and des- 
pises. His aversion is increased by a sense 
of his inability to resist ; and he learns even 
to cherish the feeling and habit of misery 
as the only testimony that his soul is un- 
subdued. He is politically miserable. I 
have given this sketch as an illustration of 
those natiu^al laws vdiich make om' happi- 
ness dependent on our sjntnpathy with a 
power which overrules us ; and also as an 
example of the form and the precariousness 
of that process by which we can in some 
ckcumstances contract our horizon, as it 
were, and shut out from our view those 
things which give us pain, and withdi'aw 
ourselves from the encounter of those prin- 



44 

ciples which are in opi30sition to our OAvn. 
In the field of this ^yo^ld, there are many 
divisions and subdi^ isions, sej)arated by- 
strong barriers from each other, and ac- 
knowledging different authorities, or the 
same authority perhaps in different degrees. 
There are so many shelters to which men 
may betake themselves, ^^ hen pm'sued by 
the justice or injustice of their fellow-crea- 
tures. But whilst we continue within the 
scope of one authority, although we may 
find a temporary asylmn against its emnity 
in a narrower circle or more private society, 
we are continually liable to be confronted 
by it, and di'agged from our hiding-j^lace ; 
and must therefore, from the natm^e of 
things, be in some measure dependent on 
it for oiu' happiness. 

^ATienever the material M^orld and its 
concerns are made use of to illustrate the 
concerns of the mind and of the invisible 
world, it is of great importance to preserve 
in lively recollection the essential difference 
which separates the two subjects. The 
one embraces outward actions exclusively ; 
whilst the prominent featm-e in the other is 
the principle from v» hich the actions spring. 



Thus, in the example which has just be^ii 
given, we can easily sup23ose that Crom- 
^vell's followers were actuated by a great 
variety of moti^'es, and that the solemnity 
of the Commonwealth might captivate dif- 
ferent mhids on very different principles. 
Some pious people might have liked it, 
from having associated it in their minds 
^vith true reliaion : some from the fanatical 
idea, that this outward form woidd atone 
for more secret sins ; some, from its mix- 
tm^e with repubhcan stiu'diness ; and some, 
fi'om a hatred of Popery or of the Stuart 
family. Xo^v, these j^rinciples are all very 
different in their natm^e, although their 
external results might in some particidai's 
resemble each other ; and therefore the hap- 
piness of the citizens did not proceed from 
an actual sympatlty of principle with the 
Government, but j^w/^ a coincidence in the 
effects of their principles : And if the Go- 
vernment had had cognizance and control 
of the mind as well as the body, then those 
alone could have been happy, or coidd have 
l^een considered as good citizens, who liked 
that solemn system of things precisely on 
the same principles with the Go^'ernment ; 



46 

and the collision of opposite principle would 
in tliis case have been as violent as the col- 
lision of external conduct actually was. In 
morals, an action does not mean an effect 
simply, but a principle carried into exercise ; 
and therefore, in a government of minds, 
any effect produced by pride, for instance, 
however beneficial to the public, woidd get 
the name of a proud action, and ^^'ould be 
condemned by a judge vrho disapproved of 
pride. Man cannot see into the heart ; and 
therefore he is obliged to conjectm-e or 
guess at principles by then- effects ; but yet 
his judgment is always determined by the 
natm-e of the i3rinciple to which he ascribes 
the effects. Supposing, then, that we were 
under such a supernatui'ally gifted govern- 
ment, and that this government was so 
strong that the idea of resisting or escaping 
it involved an absm'dity, — it would evi- 
dently become a matter of the very highest 
importance, to make oiu^selves accm-ately ac- 
quainted with its principles, and to accom- 
modate om' own to them ; because, till this 
were accomplished, we could ne^'er enjoy 
tranquillity, but must continually suffer the 
uneasiness of beins; reluctantlv borne down 



47 

by the current of a will more powerful than 
oiir own. This object, however, would be 
attended by considerable difficulty. In the 
first place, it could not be very easy to dis- 
cover the precise principles of the adminis- 
tration : Almost any single act might pro- 
ceed from a great variety of principles ; and 
it would therefore require a long observa- 
tion and induction of facts, in order to ar- 
rive at a satisfactory conclusion, And, in 
the second place, after we had discovered 
those principles, we might chance to find 
that they were in direct opposition to our 

In these circumstances, it would be most 
desirable that the Government should, for 
the information of the people, embody in 
one interesting train of action the whole of 
the principles of its Administration ; so 
that an imequivocal and distinct idea of 
these i)rinciples might be conveyed, by the 
naiTative, to any one who would carefully 
consider its pm^port. After Government 
had done this, it would evidently be the 
interest and the duty of all the subjects to 
dwell much upon the history thus commu- 
nicated to them, in order that they might 



48 

in this way familiarize their minds to the 
principles developed in it, and teach their 
own thoughts to run in the same channel, 
and interest their affections and feelings in 
it as much as possible. The people would 
engage in this with greater or less earnest- 
ness, according to the strength or weakness 
of the conviction which each one had as to 
the reality of the connexion which subsist- 
ed between happiness and the accomplish- 
ment of this object, and also in proportion 
to their persuasion that this history was a 
ti-ue representation of the character of the 
Government. Approbation and affection 
could alone constitute the necessary adjust- 
ment: Fear might urge to the prosecution 
of the object, but the complete harmony of 
the will is the result of a more generous 
principle. If we suppose, farther, that this 
complete harmony of sentiment is one of 
the great objects of Government, then a 
coincidence on the part of the subjects, un- 
less connected with a distinct intention to 
coincide, could not contain in itself the ele- 
ments of a complete harmony, because it did 
not embrace this great object of the Go- 
vernment. 



49 



SECTION II. 



I HAVE made these remarks for the purpose 
of illustrating the object of the Christian 
revelation, and of explaining the necessity 
of believing its announcement, in order to 
the full accomplishment of that object in 
each individual case. The object of Chris- 
tianity is to bring the character of man 
into harmony with that of God. To this 
end, it is evidently necessary that a just 
idea of the Divine character should be 
formed. The works of creation, the ar- 
rangements of providence, and the testi- 
mony of conscience, are, if thoroughly 
weighed, sufficient to give this idea : But 
men are in general so much occupied by 
the works, that they forget their great Au- 
thor ; and their characters are so opposed 
CO his, that they turn away their eyes from 
the contemplation of that purity which con- 
demns them. And even in the most fa- 
vourable cases, the moral efficiency of the 

D 



50 

idea presented by these natural lights, is 
much hindered and weakened by the ab- 
stractness and vagueness of its form. 

WTien we look into creation or provi- 
dence, for the indications of God's charac- 
ter, we are struck with the mixture of ap- 
pearances which present themselves. We 
see on one side, life, health, happiness ; and 
on the other, death, disease, pain, misery. 
The first class furnishes us with argimients 
for the goodness of God ; but what are we 
to make of the opposite facts ? The theory 
on this subject which is attended with 
fewest difficulties, is founded on two sup- 
positions, — first. That moral good is neces- 
sary to permanent happiness ; and second, 
That misery is the result of moral evil, and 
was appointed by the Author of Natm-e as 
its check and punishment. This theory 
throws some light on the character both of 
God and of man. It represents God not 
merely as generally solicitous for the hap- 
piness of men, but as solicitous to lead them 
to happiness through the medium of a cer- 
tain moral character, which is the object of 
his exclusive approbation ; and it represents 
man as very sinful, by holding forth the 



51 

mass of natural evil in the world as a sort 
of measure of his moral deficiency; and 
suggests that the disease must be indeed 
virulent, when so strong a medicine is ne- 
cessary. The fact, however, that the great- 
est natural evil does not always fall w^here 
moral evil is most conspicuous, whilst it 
gives rise to the idea of a future state, does 
nevertheless obscure, in some degree, our 
ideas of the Divine character. Our notion 
of the goodness of God, according to na- 
tural religion, does not then arise so much 
from the knowledge of any one distinct un- 
equivocal manifestation of that qu.ality, as 
from a general comparison of many facts, 
which, when combined, lead to this conclu- 
sion. This remark applies also to our no- 
tion of the Divine holiness, or God's ex- 
clusive approbation of one particular cha- 
racter ; though not to the same extent, — 
because conscience comes much more di- 
rectly to the point here than reason does 
in the other case. The excitements and 
motives arising out of such a comparison 
as has been described, cannot be nearly so 
vivid or influential as those which spring 
from the belief of a simple and unequivo- 



52 

cal fact which recurs to us without effort, 
and unfolds its instruction without obscuri- 
ty, and which holds out to us an unvarying 
standard, by which we may at all times 
judge of the thoughts and intentions of 
God in his dealings with men. Natm-al 
theology, therefore, becomes almost neces- 
sarily rather a subject of metaphysical spe- 
culation than a system of practical prin- 
ciples. It marks the distinctions of right 
and wrong ; but it does not efficiently at- 
tach our love to what is right, nor our ab- 
horrence to what is wrong. We may fre- 
quently observe real serious devotedness, 
even amongst the professors of the most 
absurd superstitions ; but it would be diffi- 
cult to find a devoted natural religionist. 
The reason is, that these superstitions, 
though they have no relation to the true 
character of God, have yet some applicabi- 
lity to the natural constitution of man. 
Natural religion possesses the former qua- 
lification in much greater perfection than 
the latter. Under an impression of guilt, 
a man who has no other religious know- 
ledge than that which unassisted reason af- 
fords, must feel much perplexity and em- 



58 

barrassment. He believes that God is gra- 
cious ; but the wounds which he feels in his 
own conscience, and the misery which he 
sees around him, demonstrate also that God 
is of a most uncompromising purity. He 
knows not what to think ; and he is tempt- 
ed either to despair, or to turn his thoughts 
away entirely from so alarming a subject. 
All these conditions of mind — despair, 
thoughtlessness, and perplexity — are equal- 
ly adverse to the moral health of the soul, 
and are equally opposed to that zealous and 
cheerful obedience which springs from gra- 
titude for mercy, and esteem for holy and 
generous worth. In such circumstances, 
the mind would naturally, in self-defence, 
contrive to lower its standard of moral duty 
down to the level of its own performances ; 
or would settle into a gloomy hostility to 
a lawgiver who requires more from it than 
it is disposed to render. It is in this form 
of weakness and perversion that we gene- 
rally see natural religion ; and we need not 
wonder at this melancholy phenomenon, 
when we consider that its principles con- 
sist in abstract conclusions of the intellect, 
which make no powerful appeal to the heart. 



54 

A single definite and intelligible action 
gives a vividness and power to the idea of 
that moral character which it exhibits, be- 
yond what could be conveyed by a multi- 
tude of abstract descriptions. Thus the ab- 
stract ideas of patriotism and integrity make 
but an uninteresting appearance, when con- 
trasted with the high spectacle of heroic 
worth which was exhibited in the conduct 
of Regulus, when, in the senate of his 
country^ he raised his solitary voice against 
those humbling propositions of Carthage, 
which, if acquiesced in, would have restored 
him to liberty, and which, for that single 
reason, had almost gained an acquiescence ; 
and then, imsubdued alike bv the frantic 
entreaties of his family, the weeping soli- 
citations of the admiring citizens, and the 
appalling terrors of his tlireatened fate, he 
returned to Africa, rather than violate his 
duty to Rome and the sacredness of truth. 
In the same way, the abstract views of 
the Divine character, drawn from the ob- 
servation of nature, are in general rather 
visions of the intellect than efficient moral 
principles in the heart and conduct ; and 
however true they may be, are uninterest- 



55 



ing and unexciting, when compared with 
the vivid exhibition of them in a history 
of definite and inteUigible action. 

To assist our w^eakness, therefore, and to 
accommodate his instructions to the prin- 
ciples of om- nature, God has been pleased 
to present to us a most interesting series of 
actions, in which his moral character, as far 
as we are concerned, is fully and perspicu- 
ously embodied. In this narration, the most 
condescending and affecting and entreating 
kindness, is so wonderfully combined with 
the most spotless holiness, and the natm^al 
appeals which emanate from every part of it, 
to oui' esteem, our gratitude, our shame, and 
our interest, are so urgent and constrain- 
ing, that he who carries about with him 
the conviction of the truth and reality of 
this history, possesses in it a principle of 
mighty efficiency, which must subdue and 
harmonize his mind to the will of that 
Great Being whose character is there de- 
picted. 

The delineation of the character of an 
overruling authority, v/hatever that charac- 
ter may be, makes a strong appeal to the 
subjects, on the score of their interest : It 



56 

calls iiix)n them, as they value their happi- 
ness, to bring their own views into confor- 
mity with it. The appeal becomes more 
forcible and effectual, if the character which 
they are thus called on to contemplate be 
such a one as would naturally excite esteem 
and affection in an uninterested observer. 
But the weight of the appeal is infinitely 
increased, when this powerful and amiable 
Being is represented to them in the atti- 
tude of a benefactor, exerting this power 
and putting forth this character on their 
own peculiar behalf. 

It is thus that the character of God is 
represented in the ^ew Testament ; and it 
is on these grounds that we are called on 
to love, to obey, and to imitate him. If 
God's character be in fact such as is there 
described, then those who reject the history 
in which this character is developed, shut 
themselves out from the opportunity of 
familiarizing their minds to the Divine 
government, and of bringing their affections 
and their views to harmonize with it. 

There is a divine beauty and wisdom in 
the form in which God has chosen to com- 
municate the knowledge of his character. 



57 

which, when duly considered, can scarcely 
fail of exciting gratitude and admiration. 
The object of the gospel is to bring man 
into hai'mony with God ; the subject of 
its operations, therefore, is the human heart 
in all its various conditions. It addi'esses 
the learned and the unlearned, the savage 
and the civilized, the decent and the pro- 
fligate ; and to all it speaks precisely the 
same language. 'V\Tiat then is this univer- 
sal language ? It cannot be the language 
of metaphysical discussion, or what is call- 
ed abstract moral reasoning ; for this could 
be intelligible to few, and it could influence 
the characters of fewer. The principles 
which it addresses ought evidently to be 
such as are in a great measure independent 
of the extremes of cultivation and barbar- 
ism ; and, in point of fact, they are so. 
They are indeed the very principles which 
Mr. Hiune designates to be, " a species of 
natural instincts, which no reasoning or 
process of the thought or imderstanding is 
able either to produce or to prevent." (In- 
quiry into Hmnan Understanding, sect. v. 
part 1.) Its argument consists in a relation 
of facts : If these are really believed, the 

D 2 



58 

effect on the character necessarily follows. 
It presents a history of wondrous love, in 
order to excite gratitude ; of high and holy 
worth, to attract veneration and esteem: 
It presents a view of danger, to produce 
alarm ; of refuge, to confer peace and joy; 
and of eternal glory, to animate hope. 



59 



SECTION III. 



The reasonableness of a religion seems to 
me to consist in there being a direct and 
natural connexion between a believing the 
doctrines which it inculcates, and a being 
formed by these to the character which it 
recommends. If the belief of the doctrines 
has no tendency to train the disciple in a 
more exact and more willing discharge of 
its moral obligations, there is evidently a 
very strong probability against the truth 
of that religion. In other words, the doc- 
trines ought to tally with the precepts, and 
to contain in their very substance some ur- 
gent motives for the performance of them; 
because, if they are not of this description, 
they are of no use. What is the history 
of another world to me, unless it have some 
intelligible relation to my duties or happi- 
ness ? If we apply this standard to the va- 
rious religions which different nations have 
framed for themselves, we shall find very 



60 



little matter for approbation, and a great 
deal for pity and astonishment. The very 
states which have chiefly excelled in arts 
and literatm-e and civil government, have 
failed here most lamentably. Their moral 
precepts might be very good ; but then 
these precepts had as much connexion with 
the histoiy of astronomy as with the doc- 
trines of their religion. Which of the ad- 
ventures of Jupiter, or Brama, or Osiris, 
could be urged as a powerful motive to 
excite a high moral feeling, or to produce 
a high moral action ? The force of the 
moral precepts was rather lessened than 
increased by the facts of their mythology. 
In the religion of Mahomet there are many 
excellent precepts ; but it contains no il- 
lustration of the character of God, which 
has any particular tendency beyond or even 
equal to that of natural religion to enforce 
these precepts. Indeed, one of the most 
important doctrines which he taught, — 
viz, a future life beyond the grave, — ^from 
the shape which he gave to it, tended to 
counteract his moral precepts. He descri- 
bed it as a state of indulgence in sensual 
gi-atifications, which never cloyed the ap- 



61 



petite ; and yet he preached temperance 
and self-denial. It is evident, that any 
self-x'estraint which is produced by the 
belief of this doctrine, must be merely ex- 
ternal; for the real principle of temper- 
ance could not be cherished by the hope 
of indulgence at a future period. The phi- 
losophical systems of theology are no less 
liable to the charge of absurdity than the 
popular superstitions. No one can read 
Cicero's work on the nature of the gods, 
without acknowledging the justice of the 
Apostle's sentence upon that class of rea- 
soners, — " professing themselves to be 
wise, they became fools." 

As the principles and feelings of om* na- 
tm'e, which are addi'essed in religion, are 
precisely the same with those which are 
continually exercised in the affairs of this 
world, we may expect to find a resemblance 
between the doctrines of a true religion 
and the means and arguments by Avhich a 
virtuous man acquires an influence over 
the characters and conduct of his fellow- 
creatures. When a man desires another 
to do any thing, that is the precept ; when 
he enforces it by any mode of persuasion, 



62 

that is the doctrine. \VTien the Athe- 
nians were at war with the Heraclidae, it 
was declared by the Oracle, that the na- 
tion whose king died first should be vic- 
torious in the contest. As soon as this 
was known, Codrus disguised himself, went 
over to the camp of the enemy, and ex- 
posed himself there to a quarrel with a 
soldier, who killed him without knowirig 
who he was. The Athenians sent to de- 
mand the body of their king ; which so 
alarmed the Heraclidae, from the recollec- 
tion of the Oracle, that they fled in disor- 
der. Now, let us suppose that Codrus wish- 
ed to inculcate the principle of patriotism 
in his countrymen. If he had merely is- 
sued a proclamation, commanding every 
citizen to prefer the interest of his country 
to his own life, he would have been giving 
them a moral precept, but without a corre- 
sponding doctrine. If he had joined to this 
j)roclamation, the promise of honour and 
wealth as the rewards of obedience, he would 
have been adding a very powerful doctrine, 
yet nevertheless such a doctrine as must 
have led much more directly to patriotic 
conduct than to patriotic feeling and prin- 



63 

ciple. Vanity and avarice, without patrio- 
tism, might have gained those rewards : 
But if he wished to e:5tcite or to cherish 
the principle of patriotism in the hearts of 
his people, he chose the most eloquent and 
prevailing argument, when he sacrificed his 
life for them, and thus attracted their ad- 
miration and gratitude to that spirit which 
animated his breast, and their love to that 
country, of which he was at once the re- 
presentative and the ransom. 

It is indeed a striking and yet an unde- 
niable fact, that we are comparatively little 
affected by abstract truths in morality. The 
cry of a child will produce a greater move- 
ment, in almost any mind, than twenty 
pages of unanswerable reasoning. An in- 
stinctive acquaintance with this fact guides 
us in our dealings with our fellow-creatures ; 
and He who formed the heart of man, has 
attested his revealed word, by showing his 
acquaintance with the channel through 
which persuasion and instruction might be 
most effectually communicated. It may 
therefore be useful to illustrate, at greater 
length, the analogy which exists between 
the persuasions of the gospel, and those 



64 

which might be fixed on as the most power- 
ful arguments capable of being addi-essed 
to any human feelings on the subject of 
human interests. 

Let us, then, present to ourselves a com- 
pany of men travelling along the sea-shore. 
One of them, better acquainted with the 
ground than the rest, warns them of quick- 
sands, and points out to them a landmark 
which indicated the position of a danger- 
ous pass. They, however, see no great rea- 
son for apprehension ; they are anxious to 
get forwards, and cannot resolve upon 
making a considerable circuit in order to 
avoid what appears to them an imaginaiy 
evil : they reject his counsel, and proceed 
onwards. In these circumstances, what ar- 
gument ought he to use ? ^\liat mode of 
persuasion can we imagine fitted to fasten 
on their minds a strong conviction of the 
reality of their danger, and the disinter- 
ested benevolence of their adviser? His 
words have been ineffectual ; he must try 
some other method ; he must act. And he 
does so ; for, seeing no other way of pre- 
vailing on them, he desires them to wait 
only a single moment, till they see the 



65 



truth of his warning confirmed by his fate. 
He goes before them : he puts his foot on 
the seemingly firm sand, and sinks to death. 
This eloquence is irresistible : He was the 
most active and vigorous among them ; 
if any one could have extricated himself 
from the difficulty, it was he ; they are 
persuaded ; they make the necessary cir- 
cuit, bitterly accusing themselves of the 
death of their generous companion ; and 
during their progress, as often as these 
landmarks occur, his nobleness and their 
own danger rise to their minds, and secure 
their safety. Rashness is now not peril- 
ous merely, — it is ungrateful; it is mak- 
ing void the death of their deliverer. 

To walk without God in the world, is 
to walk in sin ; and sin is the way of dan- 
ger. Men had been told this by their owti 
consciences, and they had even partially 
and occasionally believed it ; but still they 
walked on. Common arguments had fail- 
ed ; the manifestations of the Divine cha- 
racter in creation and providence, and the 
testimony of conscience, had been in a great 
measure disregarded : It thus seemed ne- 
cessary, that a stronger appeal should be 



66 



made to their understanding and their feel- 
ings. The danger of sin must be more 
strikingly and unequivocally demonstrated ; 
and the alarm excited by this demonstra- 
tion must be connected with a more kind- 
ly and generous principle, which may bind 
their affections to that God from whom 
they have wandered. But ho^v is this to 
be done? "^^Tiat more prevailing appeal can 
be made ? Must the Almighty Warner 
demonstrate the evil of sin, by undergoing 
its eflFects ? Must he prove the danger of 
sin, by exhibiting himself as a sufferer un- 
der its consequences ? Must he who knew 
no sin suffer as a sinner, that he might 
persuade men that sin is indeed an evil ? — 
It was even so. God became man, and 
dwelt amongst us. He himself encounter- 
ed the terrors of guilt, and bore its pimish- 
ment ; and called on his careless creatures 
to consider and understand the evil of sin, 
by contemplating even its undeserved ef- 
fects on a being of perfect purity, who was 
over all, God blessed for ever. Could they 
hope to sustain that weight which had 
crushed the Son of God ? Could they rush 
into that guilt and that danger against 



67 

which he had so pathetically warned them ? 
Could they refuse their hearts and their 
obedience to him who had proved himself 
so worthy of their confidence ? — especially 
when we consider that this great Benefac- 
tor is ever present, and sees the acceptance 
which this history of his compassion meets 
with in every breast, rejoicing in those 
whose spirits are purified by it, and still 
holding out the warning of his example to 
the most regardless. 

Ancient history tells us of a certain king 
who made a law against adultery, in which 
it was enacted that the offender should be 
punished by the loss of both eyes. The 
very first offender was his own son. The 
case was most distressing ; for the king was 
an affectionate father, as well as a just ma- 
gistrate. After much deliberation and in- 
ward struggle, he finally commanded one of 
his own eyes to be pulled out and one of his 
son's. It is easier to conceive than to de- 
scribe what must have been the feelings of 
the son in these most affecting circum- 
stances. His offence would appear to him 
in a new light ; it would appear to him not 
simply as connected with painful conse- 



68 



quences to liiinself, but as the cause of a 
father's sufferings, and as an injury to a fa- 
ther's love. If the king had passed over 
the law altogether, in his son's favour, he 
would have exhibited no regard for justice, 
and he would have given a very inferior 
proof of affection. We measure affection 
by the sacrifice which it is prepared to 
make, and by the resistance which it over- 
comes. If the sacrifice had been made, and 
the resistance overcome secretly in the heart 
of the king, there could have been but little 
evidence of the real existence either of prin- 
ciple or of affection ; and the son might per- 
haps have had reason to think, that his par- 
don was as much the effect of his father's 
disregard of the law as of his affection to 
him ; and at any rate, even if he had given 
the fullest credit to the abstract justice and 
kindness which were combined in his ac- 
quittal, it is impossible that this theoretical 
character of his father could have wrought 
on his heart any impression half so ener- 
getic, or interesting, or overwhelming, as 
that which must have been produced by 
the simple and unequivocal and practical 
exhibition of worth which has been record- 



69 

ed. If we suppose that the happiness of 
the young man's life depended on the era- 
dication of this criminal propensity, it is 
not easy to imagine how the king could 
more wisely or more effectually have pro- 
moted this benevolent object. The action 
was not simply a correct representation of 
the king's character, — it also contained in 
itself an appeal most correctly adapted to 
the feelings of the criminal. It justified 
the king in the exercise of clemency ; it 
tranquillized the son's mind, as being a 
pledge of the reality and sincerity of his 
father's gracious purposes towards him ; 
and it identified the object of his esteem 
with the object of his gratitude. Mere gi*a- 
titude, unattr acted by an object of moral 
worth, could never have stamped an im- 
pression of moral worth on his character ; 
which was his father's ultimate design. 
We might suppose the existence of this 
same character without its producing such 
an action ; we might suppose a conflict of 
contending feelings to be carried on in the 
mind without evidencing, in the conduct 
flowing from it, the full vehemence of the 
conflict, or defining the adjustment of the 



70 

contending feelings ; but we cannot sup- 
pose any mode of conduct so admirably fit- 
ted to impress the stamp of the father's cha- 
racter on the mind of the son, or to asso- 
ciate the love of right and the abhorrence 
of wrong with the most powerful instincts 
of the heart. The old man not only wish- 
ed to act in perfect consistency with his 
own views of duty, but also to produce a 
salutary effect on the mind of his son ; and 
it is the full and effectual union of these 
two objects which forms the most beautiful 
and striking part of this remarkable his- 
tory. 

There is a singular resemblance between 
this moral exhibition and the communica- 
tion which God has been pleased to make 
of himself in the gospel. We cannot but 
love and admire the character of this ex- 
cellent prince, although we ourselves have 
no direct interest in it ; and shall we re- 
fuse our love and admiration to the King 
and Father of the human race, who, with 
a kindness and condescension unutterable, 
has, in calling his wandering childi'en to 
return to duty and to happiness, presented 
to each of us a like aspect of tenderness 



71 

and puritjr, and made use of an argument 
which makes the most direct and irresist- 
ible appeal to the most familiar, and at the 
same time the most powerful principles in 
the heart of man ? 

In the gospel, God is represented in the 
combined character of a gracious parent and 
a just judge. His guilty children are ar- 
raigned before him and condemned : They 
have not only forfeited all claim to his fa- 
vour, by the breach of that fundamental 
law which binds all intelligent creatures to 
love and resemble their Creator ; but they 
have also by the same means contracted the 
disease of sin, and lost that mental health 
which can alone capacitate for spiritual en- 
joyment. Thus, the consistency of their 
Judge, and their own diseased condition, 
seemed equally to cover their futurity with 
a pall of the deepest mourning. This dis- 
ease constituted their punishment. Par- 
don, whilst this disease remained, was a 
mere name : Mercy, therefore, if at all com- 
municated, must be communicated in such 
a way as to heal this disease — in such away 
as to associate sin with the abhorrence of 
the heart, and duty with the love of the 



72 

heart. The exhibition of the Divine cha- 
racter in this dispensation of mercy, must 
not only be consistent with its own excel- 
lence, but also suited to make an impres- 
sion on the reason and the feelings of the 
guilty. And it is so. The Judge himself 
bore the punishment of transgression, whilst 
he published an amnesty to the guilty, and 
thus asserted the authority and importance 
and worth of the law, by that very act which 
beamed forth love unspeakable, and display- 
ed a compassion which knew no obstacle 
but the unwillingness of the criminals to 
accept it. The Eternal Word becam^e flesh ; 
and exhibited, in sufferings and in death, 
that combination of holiness and mercy, 
which believed, must excite love, and if 
loved, must produce resemblance. 

A pardon without a sacrifice, could have 
made but a weak and obscure appeal to the 
understanding or the heart. It could not 
have demonstrated the evil of sin ; it could 
not have demonstrated the graciousness of 
God ; and therefore it could not have led 
man either to hate sin or to love God. If 
the punishment as well as the criminality 
of sin consists in an opposition to the cha- 



73 

racter of God, the fullest pardon must be 
perfectly useless, whilst this opposition re- 
mains in the heart ; and the substantial 
usefulness of the pardon will depend upon 
its being connected with such circumstances 
as may have a natural and powerful ten- 
dency to remove this opposition, and create 
a resemblance. The pardon of the gospel 
is connected with such circumstances ; for 
the sacrifice of Christ has associated sin with 
the blood of a benefactor, as well as with 
our own personal sufferings, — and obedience 
with the dying entreaty of a friend breath- 
ing out a tortured life for us, as well as 
with our own unending glory in his blessed 
society. This act, like that in the preced- 
ing illustration, justifies God as a lawgiver 
in dispensing mercy to the guilty ; it gives 
a pledge of the sincerity and reality of that 
mercy ; and, by associating principle w ith 
mercy, it identifies the object of gratitude 
with the object of esteem, in the heort of 
the sinner. It may also here be observed, 
that the I'esurrection and ascension of 
Christ, as the representative of our race, 
not only demonstrate the Divine compla- 
cency in tlie \rork of the Saviour, but ex- 

E 



74 

hibit to us also the indissoluble connexion 
which subsists between immortal glory and 
an entire unreserved acquiescence in the 
will of God ; and thus the Christian hope 
is not directed to an undefined ease and 
enjoyment in heaven, but to a defined and 
intelligible happiness springing from the 
more perfect exercise of those very prin- 
ciples of love to God and man, which 
formed the character of their Master, and 
still constitute his joy. 

The distinction of persons in the Divine 
nature, we cannot comprehend ; but we can 
easily comprehend the high and engaging 
morality of that character of God which is 
developed in the history of the New Tes- 
tament. God gave his equal and well-be- 
loved Son, to suffer in the stead of an apo- 
state world ; and through this exhibition of 
awful justice, he publishes the fullest and 
freest pardon. He thus teaches us, that it 
forms no part of his scheme of mercy to dis- 
solve the eternal connexion between sin and 
misery. No ; this connexion stands sure ; 
and one of the chief objects of Divine re- 
velation is to convince men of this truth. 
And Justice does the work of mercy, when 



75 

it alarms us to a sense of danger, and sti- 
mulates us to flee from a continually-in- 
creasing wo. But the cross of Christ does 
not merely show the danger of sin ; it de- 
monstrates an unwearied compassion — a 
love unutterable, which extends its invita- 
tions and entreaties of reconciliation as wide 
as the ravages of sin, in order that by such 
an instance of self-sacrificing solicitude on 
the part of God for their welfare, men 
might be allured to the love of Him who 
had so loved them ; and that their grateful 
admiration having for its object the full 
perfections of the Divine character, might 
gradually carry them forward to an entire 
resemblance of it. 

Most men will have no hesitation to ad- 
mit the general proposition, that the moral 
character of God supposes the union of jus- 
tice and mercy in an infinite degree. Now, 
the gospel history simply gives an indivi- 
duality and a life to this general idea, in 
the same way that the old king's conduct 
towards his son gave an individuality and 
a life to the general idea of paternal affec- 
tion in union with a regard for the laws. 
Most men will also admit, that the conduct 



76 

of this good prince was suited not only to 
give a distinct view of his own principles, 
but also to stamp the character of these 
principles on the heart of his son. But the 
same causes operate in fitting the conduct 
of God, as declared in the gospel, for stamp^ 
ing the character of its principles on the 
hearts of those who believe it. The old 
king was sensible, that the abstract idea of 
his justice and affection would have had 
but very little influence on his son's cha- 
racter ; and therefore it was the part of a 
wise and benevolent man to embody this 
abstract idea in a palpable action, which 
might make an intelligible and powerful 
appeal to his miderstanding and his heart. 
The abstract idea of God's character has 
still less influence on our minds ; because 
the invisible infinity of his essence adds in- 
calculably to the natural vagueness and in- 
efficiency of such impressions : It was there- 
fore the part of a wise and benevolent Be- 
ing to embody his attributes in a train of 
palpable and intelligible action, which 
might carry a distinct and influential ap- 
peal to our capacities and feelings. If the 
ultimate object of God's dealings with men 



77 

had been to pardon their sins, this might 
have been done without giving them any 
information on the subject until they stood 
before the judgment-seat : But if his gra- 
cious object was, as the Bible represents it, 
to make men partakers of his own happi- 
ness, by communicating to them his own 
moral likeness, it was necessary that such 
an exhibition of his moral character should 
be made to them, as might convey to their 
understandings a distinct idea of it, and 
might address to their feelings of gratitude 
and esteem and interest, such appropriate 
excitements and persuasives as might lead 
to a full resemblance of it. 



78 



SECTION IV. 



But many who admit the abstract charac- 
ter of God, feel notwithstanding a disposi- 
tion to reject the gospel history ; although 
its whole tenor is in perfect conformity with 
the general idea to which they have profess- 
ed their consent. This is natm^al, though 
mireasonable. It is probable that the old 
king's son was veiy much astonished when 
he learned the final determination as to the 
mode of executing the law in his case ; yet, 
if he had been asked before, what his opi- 
nion of his father's character was, it is like- 
ly that he ^^^ould have answered with confi- 
dence, that he knew him to be a just prince 
and an affectionate father. Why. then, 
was he astonished ? Did not the fact agree 
with his previous judgment ? The only ex- 
l^lanation is, that he did not comprehend 
the full meaning of his own expressions ; 
and when he saw the general idea which 
he had formed of his father's character em- 



79 

bodied in an action, he did not recognize it 
to be in fact the same thing. Many of those 
who reason on the character of God fall in- 
to a similar mistake : They admit his ab- 
solute moral perfections ; but when the ab^ 
stract idea ^yhich they have formed of Him 
takes life before their eyes, and assimies 
the body of an action, they start from 
it as if it were an utter stranger. And 
why? — The only reason which can be given 
is, that the abstract idea which they talk 
about, is so vague and indeterminate, as 
to make no distinct impression on their 
minds. 

If a man really admitted, in truth and 
in intelHgence, that abstract idea of God 
which he admits in words, he would find 
his reason compelled to believe a fact which 
is only an exemplification of that idea, nay 
the existence of which seems in some de- 
gree indispensible to the consistency of that 
idea. The admission of this abstract idea, 
and the rejection of the corresponding fact, 
are as inconsistent as to be convinced of the 
thorough liberality of a friend's character, 
and at the same time to reject as absurd 
and fancifid the history of a hberal action, 



80 

said to have been performed by him when 
the occasion seemed actually to require it. 
There is another quality belonging to 
abstract ideas, arising from the vagueness 
of the impressions made by them, whicli 
recommends them to many minds ; and 
that is, their inoffensiveness. A corrupt 
politician, for instance, can speculate on 
and api)laud the abstract idea of integrity ; 
but when this abstract idea takes the form 
of a man and a course of action, it ceases 
to be that harmless and welcome visitor it 
used to be, and draws on itself the decided 
enmity of its former apparent friend. The 
fact is, that the man never really loved the 
abstract idea of integrity, else he must have 
loved every exemplification of it. We have 
thus an unequivocal test of a man's princi- 
ples. Bring the eloquent eulogist of mag- 
nanimity into a situation where he may be 
tried, — bring him in difficult circumstances 
into contact with a person of real magnani- 
mity, — and we shall see whether it was the 
thing or the name which he loved. 

In the same way, many men will admit 
the abstract idea of a God of infinite holi- 
ness and goodness ; and will even take de- 



81 

light in exercising their reason or their 
taste in speculating on the subject of his 
being and attributes ; yet these same per- 
sons will shrink with dislike and alarm from 
the living energy which this abstract idea 
assumes in the Bible. It is there no longer 
a harmless generality: It is a living Being, 
asserting one spiritual character and one 
class of principles in harmony with his own, 
disapproving and condemning every other, 
and casting the weight of omnipotence into 
his scale, to prove the vanity of all resist- 
ance. Those who feel oppressed by the vi- 
gilance and strictness of this ever-present 
witness, without being convinced of the 
importance of his friendship, are glad to 
retreat and to shroud themselves under the 
vagueness of an abstract idea. But in truth 
they do not believe nor love this abstract 
idea of God, else they would also believe 
and love the living character which cor- 
responds to it. The real conviction of the 
truth of the abstract idea would necessarily 
contain in it the conviction of the corre- 
sponding fact. 

These remarks may serve to illustrate 
the grounds on which a charge of moral 
E 2 



m 

guilt is brought by the Scriptures against 
unbelief. If a man cannot refuse his as- 
sent and approbation to an abstract prin- 
ciple in morals, why does he reject it when 
it loses its abstractness, and comes in a form 
of power and efficiency ? The principle con- 
tinues the same ; it has only assumed a more 
active attitude. In truth, he now rejects it 
because it is active, and because it strenu- 
ously opposes many of his favourite inclina- 
tions. He does not wish to be guided by 
what he knows to be right, but by what he 
feels to be agreeable. " He does not wish 
to retain God in his knowledge." He does 
not wish, at any risk or with any sacrifice, 
to do the will of God ; and therefore " he 
doth not know of the doctrine whether it 
be of God." Such an ignorance as this is 
criminal ; because it arises from a wilful 
stifling of conviction, and an aversion to 
admitted truths. 

It thus appears, that, by the help of ab- 
stract ideas and general terms, a man may 
appear to have made great progress in mo- 
rals, whilst in fact he has learned nothing. 
Things operate on our minds exactly ac- 
cording to our apprehension of them, and 



83 

not according to their own intrinsic value. 
Our apprehension of abstract truths in mo- 
rality is so vague, that they hardly operate 
on our characters at all. Does it not, then, 
approach almost to a demonstration, that if 
God really intended to improve the happi- 
ness and characters of men, by instructing 
them in the excellence of his own charac- 
ter, he would comxmunicate this instruction, 
not in the form of abstract propositions and 
general terms, which are, by the construc- 
tion of the human mind, incapable of pro- 
ducing any real and lasting effect upon us, 
but by that way which coincides with our 
faculties of apprehension, — that is, by the 
way of living and palpable actions, which 
may add the weight and distinctness of 
their own substance to those truths which 
they are intended to develop ? That men. 
stand in need of such an improvement, is 
certain ; that a gracious Being should in- 
tend it, is surely not improbable ; and if 
he had such an intention, that some such 
scheme as Christianity should have been 
adopted, seems necessary to its success. 

At fii'st sight, it may seem strange that 
a system evidently flowing from so much 



84 



goodness, tending to so much happiness, 
and constructed with so much \visdom, 
should in general be either reject ed^ or ad- 
mitted with an inattentive and therefore 
useless assent : But there are circumstances 
in the case which abundantly account for 
this. The Great Author of Christianity 
anticipated this rejection, and forewarned 
his disciples of it. His knowledge of the 
heart of man made him well acquainted 
with many causes wliich would operate 
against the reception of his doctrine. ^Mien 
Agis attempted to regenerate the diseased 
government of Sparta, lie stiiTed up and 
armed against himself all the abuses and 
corruptions of the state. It would have 
been strange if this had not happened ; and 
it would also be strange, if a doctidne which 
tends to regenerate human natm^e, and to 
eradicate the deep-seated and }'et favourite 
. diseases of the heart, should not ai'm against 
itself all those moral evils which it threatens 
to destroy. 

A man finds no difficulty in giving his 
acquiescence to any projDOsition which does 
not carry along ^vith it an obligation on 
him to something which he dislikes. The 



85 

great bulk of the population of this coun- 
try, for instance, acquiesce in the Coperni- 
can system of astronomy, although they 
may possess little or no knowledge of the 
mathematical or physical truths on which 
this system is reared. But let us make the 
supposition for a moment, that an acquies- 
cence in this theory somehow or other in- 
volved in it a moral obligation on every be- 
liever of it to walk round the world, we can- 
not doubt but that the party of Ptolemy, 
or some other less imperious philosopher, 
would, in these cii'cumstances, very soon 
carry almost every voice. 

The religion of Jesus Christ involves in 
it a great variety of obligations ; and it was 
indeed principally for the pui-pose of eluci- 
dating and enforcing these obligations, that 
God was pleased to make it known to man- 
kind. And many of these obligations are 
so distasteful to the natural selfishness or 
indolence of our hearts, that we feel unwil- 
ling to embrace a conviction which involves 
in it so complete a derangement of our 
plans, and a thwarting of om- habitual in- 
clinations, ^^^ere the beautiful lineaments 
of the Christian character to be portrayed 



86 



in a theory which should disclaim all in- 
terference with the consciences and duties 
of the world, it would infallibly attract 
much intellectual and sentimental admira- 
tion : And were the high and holy charac- 
ter of Godj and its universally-pervading 
influence, to be painted in glowing colours. 
— and were that unbounded liberty to be 
described, in which those spirits that are 
perfectly conformed to His will, must ex- 
patiate through all the vastness of creation 
and eternity,— were all this to be couched 
in the terms of a lofty imagination, without 
any appeal to the conscience, and without 
attempting to bring in this splendid vision 
to haunt our hours of carelessness or of 
crime, — who can doubt that taste, andfancy^ 
and eloquence, would pour in their convert- 
ed disciples within the engaging circle of 
such a religion ? And yet we find, that 
taste, and fancy, and eloquence, and high 
intellect, and fine sentiment, often reject 
Christianity : And the reason seems to be, 
because it is not a science merely, but a 
practical art, in which every part of know^ 
ledge is connected Avith a corresponding 
duty. It does not present to us a beautiful 



87 

picture merely, — it commands us to copy 
it ; it does not merely hold forth to us the 
image of perfect virtue, — it declares to us 
also our own guilt, and denounces our 
condemnation; it does not merely exhibit 
to us the sublime idea of a spiritual and 
universal sovereign, — it also calls upon us, 
by this very exhibition, under the most aw- 
ful sanctions of hope and fear, to humble 
ourselves before Him, and to look to Him 
as the rightful proprietor of our thoughts 
and words and actions. There is something 
in all this very harassing and unpleasing 
to our nature ; and the fact that it is so, 
may account for the real rejection that it 
generally meets with even amongst its no- 
minal friends, and may also operate as a 
warning against ascribing too much weight 
to that contempt or aversion which it some- 
times receives from those whose talents, 
when directed to other objects, we have 
been accustomed to follow with our admira- 
tion and gratitude. The proud man does 
not like to give up the triumph of superi- 
ority ; the vain man does not like to give 
up the real or fancied applause of the circle 
in which he moves ; the careless or worldly 



88 

or sensual man does not like to have himself 
continually watched and scrutinized by a 
witness who never sleeps, and who is of 
purer eyes than to behold iniquity. Now, 
as great talents are often to be found in 
men of such characters, we need not won- 
der that they employ these talents in de- 
fending the foundation on which their chief 
enjoyment is built, rather than in pursuit 
of a truth which, they are conscious, would 
level the whole fabric with the ground. 
Men do not look very diligently for that 
which they would be sorry to find. 

It is diiBcult to persuade a careless pro- 
fligate to live a life of temperate and use- 
ful exertion ; because it is difficult to ob- 
tain from him a candid hearing on the sub- 
ject. He thinks exclusively of the grati- 
fications which he is called upon to re- 
nounce, and never allows his mind to rest 
calmly on the motives which would induce 
him to do so. Whilst he apprehends fully 
and distinctly the pleasures connected with 
his own habits, he has a very vague idea 
of the evils resulting from them, or of the 
advantages of an opposite course. If the 
latter apprehension Avere as ^dvid as the 



89 

former, the man's character would change. 
And there are arguments, and those of a 
mere worldly nature, which have often pro- 
duced this effect. All that is necessary to 
accomplish it, is a candid attention on his 
part to the whole truth of the case. There 
is in his mind, indeed, a natural opposi- 
tion to the argument ; but there is also in 
the argument a natural destructiveness of 
his faults ; and if it be vividly apprehend- 
ed and retained, it will gain the victory, 
and cast out its enemy. The argument, 
then, must, in the first place, be a suffi- 
cient one in itself; that is to say, it must 
show, that, in reason, the advantage gain- 
ed by complying with it exceeds the ad- 
vantage of rejecting it. And, in the se- 
cond place, this sufficient argument must 
be distinctly and fully apprehended. The 
best argument in the world is of no use, 
unless it be properly understood, and the 
motives which it holds forth be vividly ap- 
prehended. To a mind that does not dis- 
tinctly comprehend the subject, a good ai'- 
gument will appear bad, and a bad one may 
appear good. We account, in this way, for 
the different success which the same argu- 



90 

ment meets with when it is addressed to a 
number of individuals. Some are moved 
by it — others are not ; that is to say, some 
fully apprehend it — others do not. And 
this may arise either from their misunder- 
standing the terms of the argument, or 
from tlieu' unwillingness to admit a prin- 
ciple which interferes mth their own incli- 
nations. 

Thus it fai'es often with human argu- 
ments ; nor do the arguments of God escai>e 
a similar fate. ^Ve have akeady seen how^ 
the spirituality of the Christian require- 
ments natui'ally excites an unwillingness 
to admit its principles. This unwilling- 
ness can only be overcome by a full view 
of its glorious inducements. But, unfor- 
tunately, this view is often intercepted and 
obscured by various causes, and by none 
more than the usual T^^ay in \^^hich religion 
is studied. 

Most people in this country, and pro- 
bably even the majority of the population 
in Europe, think that they understand 
Christianity ; and yet a ^^ery smaU pro- 
portion of them have read the Bible with 
that degree of ordinaiy attention which 



9r 

they bestow on the common concerns of 
life. Their ideas on this subject are deriv- 
ed ahnost entkely from creeds and church 
articles^ or human compositions of some 
kind. The evil consequences arising from 
this ai'e most grievous. To convince our- 
selves that they are indeed so to a high 
degTee, we have only to compare the two 
methods. 

In the Bible, we uniformly find the doc- 
trines — even those that are generally con- 
sidered most abstruse — pressed upon us as 
demonstrations or evidences of some im- 
portant moral featm-e of the Divine mind^. 
and as motives tending to produce in us 
some corresponding disposition in relation 
to God or man. This is perfectly reason- 
able. Oui' characters cannot but be in 
some degree affected, by v/liat we believe 
to be the conduct and the wiU of the Al- 
mighty towards ourselves and the rest of 
our species. The history of this conduct, 
and this will, constitutes ^\^hat are called 
the Christian doctrmes. If, then, the dis- 
position, or character which we are lu-ged 
to acquire, recommend itself to our reasons 
and consciences as right and agreeable to 



92 

the will of God, Ave cannot but approve 
that precept as morally true ; and if the 
doctrine by which it is enforced carries in 
it a distinct and natural tendency to pro- 
duce this disposition or character, then we 
feel ourselves compelled to admit that there 
is at least a moi^al truth in this doctrine. 
And if w^e find that the doctrine has not 
only this purely moral tendency, but that it 
is also most singularly adapted to assert 
and acquire a powerful influence over those 
principles in our natm-e to which it directs 
its appeal, then \ve must also pronoimce 
that there is a natural truth in the doc- 
trine, — ^or, in other words, that however 
contradictory it may be to human practice, 
it has however a natural consistency with 
the regulating principles of the human 
mind. And farther, if the doctrine be not 
only true in morals and in its natural adapt- 
ation to the mind of man, but if the fact 
which it records coincides also and harmo- 
nizes with that general idea of the Divine 
character which reason forms from the sug- 
gestions of conscience, and from an obser^^- 
ation of the works and ways of God in 
the external world, then we are bound to 



93 

acknowledge that this doctrine appears to 
be true in its relation to God. In the 
Bible, the Christian doctrines are always 
stated in this connexion : They stand as 
indications of the character of God, and as 
the exciting motives of a corresponding 
character in man. Forming thus the con- 
necting link between the character of the 
Creator and the creature, they possess a 
majesty which it is impossible to despise, 
and exhibit a form of consistency and truth 
which it is difficult to disbelieve. Such is 
Christianity in the Bible ; but in creeds 
and church articles it is far otherwise. 
These tests and summaries originated from 
the introduction of doctrinal errors and 
metaphysical speculations into religion ; 
and, in consequence of this, they are not 
so much intended to be the repositories of 
truth, as barriers against the encroachment 
of erroneous opinions. The doctrines con- 
tained in them therefore are not stated 
with any reference to their great object in 
the Bible, — the regeneration of the human 
heart, by the knowledge of the Divine cha- 
racter. They appear as detached proposi- 
tions, indicating no moral cause, and point- 



94 

iiig ■ to no moral effect. They do not look 
to God, on the one hand, as their source ; 
nor to man, on the other, as the object of 
their moral m^gency. They appear like 
links severed from the chain to which they 
belonged ; and thus they lose all that evi- 
dence which arises from then' consistency, 
and all that dignity which is connected with 
their high design. I do not talk of the 
propriety or impropriety of having church 
articles, but the evils which spring from 
receiving impressions of religion exclusive- 
ly or chiefly from this soiu'ce. 

I may instance the ordinary statement 
of the doctrine of the Trinity, as an illus- 
tration of what I mean* It seems diffi- 
cult to conceive that any man should read 
through the New Testament candidly and 
attentively, without being convinced that 
this doctrine is essential to and implied in 
every part of the system : But it is not so 
difficult to conceive, that although his mind 
is perfectly satisfied on this point, he may 
yet, if his religious knowledge is exclusive- 
ly derived from the Bible, feel a little sur- 
prised and staggered, when he for the first 
time reads the terms in which it is annoim- 



95 

eed in the articles and confessions of all 
Protestant cliiirches. In these summaries, 
tlie doctrine in question is stated by itself, 
divested of all its scriptm^al accompani- 
ments ; and is made to bear simply on the 
nature of the Divine essence, and the nn^- 
terious fact of the existence of Thi-ee in 
One. It is evident that this fact, taken 
by itself, cannot in the smallest degree tend 
to de velope the Divine character, and there- 
fore cannot make any moral impression on 
our minds. 

In the Bible, it assumes quite a diffe- 
rent shape ; it is there subservient to the 
manifestation of the moral character of 
God. The doctrine of God's combined 
justice and mercy in the redemption of sin- 
ners, and of his continued spiritual watch- 
fulness over the progress of truth through 
the world, and in each particular heart, 
could not have been communicated with- 
out it, so as to have been distinctly and 
vi\idly apprehended ; but it is never men- 
tioned except in connexion with these ob- 
jects ; nor is it ever taught as a separate 
subject of belief. There is a great and im- 
portant difference between these two modes 



96 



of statement. In the first, the doctrine 
stands as an isolated fact of a strange and 
unintelligible nature, and is apt even to 
suggest the idea that Christianity holds 
out a premium for believing improbabili- 
ties. In the other, it stands indissolubly 
united with an act of Divine holiness and 
compassion, which radiates to the heart an 
appeal of tenderness most intelligible in its 
natiu'e and object, and most constraining in 
its influence. 

The abstract fact that there is a plural- 
ity in the unity of the Godhead, really 
makes no address either to our understand- 
ings, or our feelings, or our consciences. 
But the obsciu'ity of the doctrine, as far as 
moral purposes are concerned, is dispelled^ 
when it comes in such a form as this, — 
'^ God so loved the w^orld, that he gave his 
only-begotten Son, that whosoever believ- 
eth in him might not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life." Or this,— ^^ But the Com- 
forter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the 
Father will send in my name, he shall 
teach you all things." Our metaphysical 
ignorance of the Divine essence is not in- 
deed in the slightest degTee removed by 



97 

this mode of stating the subject ; but our 
moral ignorance of the Divine character is 
enlightened; and that is the thing with 
which we have to do. We love or hate our 
fellow-creatures — we are attracted to or re- 
pelled from them — in consequence of our 
acquaintance with their moral characters ; 
and we do not find ourselves barred from 
the exercise of these feelings, because the 
anatomical structure of their frames is un- 
known to us, or because the mysterious 
link which binds the soul to the body has 
baffled all investigation. The knowledge 
communicated by revelation is a moral 
knowledge, and it has been communicated 
in order to produce a moral effect upon our 
characters ; and a knowledge of the Divine 
essence would have as little bearing upon 
this object, as far as we can see, as a know- 
ledge of the elementary essence of matter. 
I shall give one example more of the 
mode in which the truth of God has been 
perverted by passing through the hands of 
men. The doctrine of the atonement 
through Jesus Christ, which is the corner- 
stone of Christianity, and to which all the 
other doctrines of revelation are subservient, 

F 



98 

has had to encounter the misapprehension 
of the understanding as \yell as the pride 
of the heart. This pride is natural to man^ 
and can only be overcome by the power of 
the truth ; but the misaj^prehension might 
be removed by the simple process of read- 
ing the Bible with attention ; because it 
has arisen from neglecting the record it- 
self, and taking our information from the 
discourses or the systems of men who have 
engrafted the metaphysical subtleties of the 
schools upon the unperplexed statement of 
the word of God. In order to understand 
the facts of revelation, we muist formr a sys- 
tem to om'selves ; but if any subtlety, of 
which the application is unintelligible to 
common sense, or uninfluential on conduct, 
enters into our system, we may be sure that 
it is a wrong one. The common-sense sys- 
tem of a religion consists in two connexions, 
— first, the connexion between the doctrines 
and the character of God which they exhi- 
bit ; and secondly, the connexion between 
these same doctrmes and the character 
which they are intended to impress on the 
mind of man. When, therefore, we are 
considering a religious doctrine, our ques- 



99 

tions ought to be, first. What view does 
this doctrine give of the character of God, 
in relation to sinners ? And secondly, What 
influence is the belief of it calculated to 
exercise on the character of man ? Though 
I state the questions separately, my obser- 
vations on them cannot properly be kept 
entirely distinct. The first of these ques- 
tions leads us to consider the atonement as 
an act necessarily resulting from and simply 
developing principles in the Divine mind, 
altogether independent of its effects on the 
hearts of those who are interested in it. 
The second leads us to consider the adapt- 
ation of the history of the atonement, when 
believed, to the moral wants and capacities 
of the human mind. This last considera- 
tion really embraces the former ; because it 
is only by the impressions produced on our 
minds by any being whatever, that we can 
judge of the quahties of that being. And 
the impressions produced by the atonement 
are referable to its adaptation to the hmnan 
mind. There is something very striking 
and wonderful in this adaptation ; and the 
deeper we search into it, the stronger rea- 
sons shall we discover for admiration and 
gratitude, and the more thoroughly shall M^e 



100 

be convinced that it is not a lucky coinci- 
dence, nor an adjustment contrived by the 
precarious and temporizing wisdom of this 
world, but that it is stamped with the un- 
counterfeited seal of the universal Ruler, 
and carries on it the traces of that same 
mighty will, which has connected the sun 
with his planetary train, and fixed the great 
relations in nature, appointing to each atom 
its bound that it cannot pass. Yet it must be 
remembered that this adaptation is only an 
evidence for the truth of the gospel, but that 
it does not constitute the gospel. The gos« 
pel consists in the proclamation of mercy 
through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. This is 
the only true source of sanctity and peace and 
hope, — and if, instead of drinking from this 
fountain, we busy ourselves in tracing the 
course of the streams that flow from it, and 
in admiring the beauty and fertility of the 
country through which they run, we may 
indeed have a tasteful and sentimental re- 
lish for the organization of Christianity, but 
it will not be in us a well of water spring- 
ing up into everlasting life. Before we ad- 
mit the truth of a doctrine like the atone- 
ment, it is proper to contemplate it in all 
its consequences ; but after we Tiave admit- 



101 

ted it, we ought to give the first place in 
our thoughts to the doctrine itself, because 
our nijnds are usefully operated on, not by 
the thought of the consequences, but by 
the contemplation of the doctrine. AVhen 
an act of kindness has been done to us, our 
gratitude is excited by contemplating the 
kindness itself, not by investigating that 
law in our nature by which gratitude na- 
turally is produced by kindness. It is of 
great importance to remember this. We do 
not and cannot become Christians by think- 
ing of the Christian character, nor even by 
thinking of the adaptation of the Chi'istian 
doctrines to produce that character, but by 
having our hearts impressed and imbued 
by the doctrines themselves. The doctrines 
are constituent parts of God's character and 
government, and they are revealed to us 
that we may be renewed in the spirit of 
our minds by the knowledge of them. 

The doctrine of the atonement is the 
great subject of revelation. God is repre- 
sented as delighting in it, as being glori- 
fied by it, and as being most fully mani- 
fested by it. All the other doctrines ra- 
diate from this as their centre. In sub- 
servience to it, the distinction in the xmity 



102 

of the Godhead has been revealed. It is 
described as the everlasting theme of praise 
and song amongst the blessed who surround 
the throne of God. It is represented in 
language suitable to our capacities, as call- 
ing forth all the energies of omnipotence. 
And indeed when we come to consider 
what this great work was, we shall not 
wonder that even the inspired heralds of 
salvation faultered in the utterance of it. 
The human race had fallen off from their 
allegiance, they had turned away from God, 
their hearts chose what God abhorred, and 
despised what God honoured : They were 
the enemies of God, they had broken his 
law, which their own consciences acknow- 
ledged to be holy, just, and gracious, and 
had thus most righteously incurred the pe- 
nalty denounced against sin. Man had 
thus ruined himself, and the faithfulness 
of God seemed bound to m.ake this ruin 
irretrievable. 

The design of the atonement was to 
make mercy towards this offcast race con- 
sistent w4th the honour and the holiness of 
the Divine govermnent. To accomplish this 
gracious purpose, the Eternal Word, who 
was God, took on himself the nature of man. 



and as the elder brother and representative 
and champion of the guilty family, he so- 
lemnly acknowledged the justice of the 
sentence pronounced against sin, and sub- 
mitted himself to its full weight of wo, in 
the stead of his adopted kindi'ed, God's 
justice found rest here ; his law was mag- 
nified and made honom^able. The hmnan 
nature of the Saviour gave him a brother's 
right and interest in the human race, whilst 
his divine natm^e made his sacrifice avail- 
able, and invested the law, under which he 
had bowed himself, with a glory beyond 
what could have accrued to it from the pe- 
nal extinction of a universe* The two books 
of the Bible in which this subject is most 
minutely and methodically argued, viz. the 
epistles to the Romans and the Hebrews, 
commence with asserting most emphatical- 
ly both the perfect divinity and the perfect 
humanity of Jesus Chi'ist. On this basis 
the reasoning is founded which demon- 
strates the universal sufl&ciency and the 
suitableness of the death of Christ as an 
atonement for the sins of men, or as a vin- 
dication of the justice of the Divine go- 
vernment in dispensing mercy to the guilty. 
^\Tiat a wonderfid and awful and enliven- 



104 

ing subject of contemplation this is ! Grod ^o 
loved the world that he gave his only-be- 
gotten Son, that whosoever belie veth on him 
might not perish, but have everlasting life. 
And the same God, that he might declare 
his abhorrence of sin in the very form and 
substance of his plan of mercy, sent forth 
this Son to make a propitiation through his 
hlood. This is the God with whom we have 
to do. This is his character, the Just God 
and yet the Saviom\ There is an august- 
ness and a tenderness about this act, a depth 
and heighth and breadth and length of mo- 
ral worth and sanctity, which defies equally 
the full grasp of thought and of language; 
but we can understand something of it, and 
therefore has it been revealed to us. But 
does it not mai'k in most fearful contrast, 
the difference which exists between the 
mind of God and the mind of man ? 
Whilst man is making a mock at sin, God 
descends from the throne of glory, and takes 
on him the frailty of a creature, and dies 
as a creature the representative of sinners, 
before his holy nature can pronounce sin 
forgiven. It was to remove this difference 
that these glad-tidings have been preach- 
ed ; and he that believes this history oi 



105 

God, shall be like him, for in it he sees 
God as he is. In this wonderful transac- 
tion, mercy and truth meet together, right- 
eousness and peace embrace each other. 
It was planned and executed, in order that 
God might be just whilst he justified the 
believer in Jesus. It proclaims glory to 
God in the highest, peace on earth and 
good-will to man. The new and divinely 
constituted Head of the human family has 
been raised from the dead, his sacrifice has 
been judicially accepted, and he has been 
crowned with immortality in his represent- 
ative character. This is the foundation 
on which sinners are invited to rest the 
interests of their souls for eternity. It is 
held up for their most scrutinizing inspec- 
tion, and they are urged to draw near and 
examine whether it be sufficient to beai* 
their weight. They are asked, as it were, 
if they can discover a flaw in the fulness 
and sincerity and efficiency of that love 
which could prompt God to veil his majes- 
ty, and ally himself with our polluted race ; ' 
and assume an elder brother's interest in 
our welfare, and magnify the law which we 
had broken, by suffering its penalty in our 

F 2 



106 

room, and thus connect the Divine glory 
with the salvation of sinners. They are 
assured on the authority of God, that the 
blood of Christ cleanseth fi'om all sm, and 
that there is no condemnation to those who 
believe on him. They have thus the de- 
claration of God, and the act of God, still 
more impressive and jiersuasive than his 
declaration, to engage theu' confidence, and 
to banish all doubts and suspicions from 
their breasts. As the Saviom* expired on 
the cross, he said, '^ It is finished." The 
work of expiation was then accomplished : 
and the history of that \vork comes forth in 
the form of a general addi^ess to the sons 
of men, " Return mito me, for I have re- 
deemed you ;" ^^ Be ye reconciled to God.'* 
This is the fountain of the river of life, and 
over it are these words -written, " Ho, every 
one that thii^teth come ye to the waters.'' 
It proclaims pardon for sin ; it is therefore 
quite suited for sinners. Jesus came not to 
call the righteous, but sinners to repent- 
ance ; he came to seek and to save that 
w^hich was lost. He said this himself, and 
he said it whilst eveiy possible variety and 
aggravation of guilt stood full in the view 



107 

of his omniscience. He said it whilst he 
was contemplating that cup of bitterness 
and amazement and death which he had 
engaged to di^ink, and which was mixed for 
him to this very end, that the chief of sin- 
ners might be welcomed to the water of life. 
What is that weight of guilt which can ex- 
clude from mercy? The very thought is de- 
grading to the dignity of the sacrifice, and 
injurious to the holy love which appointed 
it, and to the unstained truth which has 
pronounced its all-sufficiency. Can we won- 
der, then, at the high-toned triumph which 
filled the soul of the Apostle Paul as he 
gazed on this glorious object, and saw in it 
the pledge that his sins, which were many, 
were forgiven him, and that the heart of 
his often outraged Master yearned upon 
him, and that his own lot for eternity was 
bomid up with the glorious eternity of his 
God ? '^ Who shall lay any thing to the 
charge of God's elect ? It is God that jus- 
tifieth, who is he that condemneth ? It is 
Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen 
again, who is even at the right hand of God, 
who also maketh intercession for us." 
But if the virtue and sufficiency of the 



108 

atonement be thus universal, why are not 
the benefits of it universally enjoyed ? Had 
the mere removal of an impending penalty, 
in consistency vi^ith justice, constituted the 
whole and the ultimate object of God in 
this great work, there would probably have 
been no difference nor individual peculiarity 
with respect to these benefits, nor should 
we have had such admonitions addressed to 
us as the following: " Many are called, but 
few are chosen ;" " work out your own sal- 
vation with fear and trembling ;" " do all 
diligence to make your calling and election 
sure." But Christ gave himself for us, not 
only to redeem us from the punishment 
due to iniquity, but also that he might 
purify to himself a peculiar people zealous 
of good works. The subjects of his kingdom 
were to be those in whose hearts the truth 
dwelt, the gi'eat truth relating to the cha- 
racter of God. This truth was developed 
and exhibited in the atonement, — its bright 
rays were concentrated there ; and there- 
fore the intelligent belief of the atonement, 
was the most proper channel through which 
this divine light might enter the soul of 
umxi, It is this light alojie which can chase 



109 

away the shades of moral darkness, and re- 
store life and spiritual vigour to the numbed 
and bewildered faculties. And therefore 
the benefits of the atonement are connected 
with a belief of the atonement. " He that 
believeth shall be saved : he that believeth 
not shall be condemned." When the iden- 
tity of unhappiness and moral darkness in 
an intelligent subject of God's government 
Is fully understood, this connexion between 
belief and salvation, will appear to be not 
the appointment of a new enactment, but 
merely the renewed declaration of an esta- 
blished and necessary constitution. The 
truth concerning God's character is an im- 
mortal and glorious principle, developed and 
laid up in Jesus Christ ; and God imparts 
its immortality and glory to the spirits in 
which it dwells. This truth cannot dwell 
in us, except in so far as the work of Christ 
remains as a reality in our minds. We 
cannot enjoy the spiritual life and peace 
of the atonement, separated from the be- 
lieving remembrance of the atonement, as 
we cannot enjoy the light of the sun se- 
parated from the presence of the sun. It 
would be a foolish madness to think of 



110 

locking in the light by shutting our case^ 
ments ; and it is no less foolish to di'eam 
of appropriating the peace of the gospel, 
whilst the great truth of the gospel is not 
in the eye of faith. In the Epistle to the 
Galatians, Vth,25th,St.Paul says, if ye have 
your life from the gospel, (here called the 
Spirit), see that you walk in, i. e. keep 
close to, the gospel. When our hearts 
stray from the truth, we stray from that 
life which is contained in the truth. We 
cannot long continue to retain any moral 
impression on our minds separate from the 
object which is fitted to produce the im- 
pression. 

The man who sees in the atonement, a 
deliverance from ruin, and a pledge of im- 
mortal bliss, will rejoice in it, and in all 
the principles which it develops. " Let 
not the wise man," says the prophet, " glo- 
ry or rejoice in his wisdom, neither let the 
mighty man rejoice in his might, let not 
the rich man rejoice in his riches ; but let 
him that rejoiceth, rejoice in this, that he 
understandeth and knoweth me, that I am 
the Lord which exercise loving kindness, 
judgment, and righteousness in the earth : 



Ill 

for in these things I delight, saith the 
Lord." He therefore who rejoices in the 
atonement, rejoices in that which delights 
the heart of God; for here have his loving 
kindness, and his judgment, and his righte- 
ousness, been most fully and most glori- 
ously exercised. It is thus that the be- 
liever has communion with God through 
Jesus Christ, and it is thus that he be- 
comes conformed to his moral likeness. The 
same truth which gives peace, produces 
also holiness. Wliat a view does the cross 
of Christ give of the depravity of man, 
and of the guilt of sin ! And must not the 
abhorrence of it be increased tenfold, by 
the consideration that it has been commit- 
ted against the God of all grace and of all 
consolation ? A sense of our interest would 
keep us close to that Saviour, in whom our 
life is treasured up, if we needed such a 
motive to bind us to a benefactor who chose 
to bear the wrath of Omnipotence rather 
than that we should bear it. Shall we 
frustrate the designs of love by our own 
u.ndoing, and trample on that sacred blood 
which was shed for us ? No ; if we believe 
in the atonement, we must love him who 



112 

made the atonement ; and if we love him, 
we shall enter into his views, we shall feel 
for the honour of God, we shall feel for the 
souls of men, we shall loathe sin especially 
in our own hearts, we shall look forward 
with an earnestness of expectation to the 
period when the mystery of God shall be 
finished, and the spiritual temple complet- 
ed, and the Redeemer's triumph fulfilled. 
This hope we have as an anchor of the 
soul sure and stedfast ; it is fixed within 
the vail ; it looks to the atonement ; and 
whatever be the afflictions or the trials of 
life, it can still rejoice in that voice which 
whispers from the inner sanctuary, " Be of 
good cheer, it is I, be not afraid ;" it can 
still feel the force of that reasoning, '' He 
that spared not his own Son, but gave him 
up for us all, how shall he not with him 
freely also give us all things ?" This hope 
maketh not ashamed, it will not and can- 
not disappoint, because it is founded on the 
character of that God who changeth not. 

It is thus that the faith of the gospel 
produces that revolution in the mind, which 
is called in Scripture conversion, or the new 
birth. A man naturally trusts to some- 



113 

thing within himself;, to his prudence, or 
to his good fortune, or to his worth, or to 
his acquirements, or to what he has done 
well, or to his unfeigned sorrow for what 
he has done ill ; self, in one form or other 
more or less amiable, is the foundation of 
his hope, and by necessary consequence, 
self is ever present to his view, and becomes 
the ultimate object of his conduct, and the 
director and the former of his character. 
But when he believes and understands the 
truth of God as manifested in the atone- 
ment, to be the only foundation on which 
he can rest with safety, the only refuge 
from that ruin into which he has been led 
by the guidance of self, he will cast from 
him these perishing and fluctuating delu- 
sions, and he will repose his interests for 
time and for eternity on the love of him 
who bled for him, and on the faithfulness of 
him who is not a man that he should lie, nor 
the son of man that he should repent ; and 
resting thus on the character of God as the 
exclusive ground of his confidence, he will 
contemplate it as his ultimate object, he 
wuU cleave to it as his counsellor and his 
guide, and will thus be gradually moulded 



114 

into its likeness. This foundation of hope 
continues the same through every stage of 
the Christian's progress. Though his growth 
in personal sanctity be the grand and bles- 
sed result of his faith, yet that sanctity can 
never become the ground of his confidence 
without throwing him back upon self, and 
separating him from God, and cutting off 
his supply from the living fountain of holi- 
ness, and thus unsanctifying him. But al- 
though personal sanctity can never become 
the foundation of hope, y^t it will much 
strengthen our confidence in that founda- 
tion ; just as returning health strengthens 
the confidence of the patient in that medi- 
cine which he feels restoring him. 

It is a law of our moral constitution, that 
the foundation of our confidence becomes 
necessarily the mould of our characters. 
The principles developed in the atonement, 
are an assemblage of all that is lovely and 
noble and admirable in spiritual excellence. 
He, then, that truly and exclusively rests 
his hope on the atonement, becomes a par- 
taker of the character of God, The great 
argument for the truth of Christianity lies 
in the sanctifying influence of its doctrines ; 



115 

and, alas ! the great argument against it, 
lies in the unsanctified lives of its profes- 
sors. A false exhibition of Christianity is 
thus more pernicious and more hateful than 
professed infidelity. But false pretences are 
not confined to religion ; and that man is 
indeed a fool who throws away his soul be- 
cause another man is a hypocrite. The 
gospel claims and deserves an examination 
on its own merits, and well will it repay 
the candid examiner. It warns of a dan- 
ger, the reality of which is inseparably con- 
nected with the admitted holiness of God, 
and the admitted sinfulness of man ; it dis- 
covers a refuge from this danger, which 
most beautifully harmonizes with all the 
Divine perfections ; and when that refuge 
is narrowly considered, it is found not only 
to be a place of safety, but to be the en- 
trance into a holy and blessed and glorious 
immortality. Like the Upas tree, it in- 
vites the Vv^eary and heavy laden to its 
shelter ; but, unlike the Upas tree, it dis- 
pels their languor, and restores their faint- 
ing spirits, and gives a new and a vigorous 
and an enlivening impulse to every organ of 
their debilitated frames ; its leaves are for 



116 

the healing of the nations, and its fruit is 
the bread of life. 

Let us now retiu'n to the questions with 
which we commenced these observations ; 
viz. AVhat view does this doctrine give of 
the character of God ? and ^Vhat influence 
is the belief of it fitted to exercise on the 
character of man? and let us, from the state- 
ment w^hich has been given, draw out the an- 
swers. Love surpassing thought is certainly 
the prominent featm-e of that glorious char- 
acter which is exhibited to us in the atone- 
ment; — but it is a love in perfect con- 
sistency with a holiness which cannot look 
upon iniquity, — it is the love of the al- 
mighty God, who has not exerted his om- 
nipotence in silencing or overstepping the 
claims of justice, but in meeting them 
and fulfilling them. It is a love — which 
sits enthroned on that mercy-seat which 
rests on eternal truth, — and whose very na- 
ture it is to hate all evil. The effect upon 
the character of man, produced by the be- 
lief of it, will be to love Him w^ho first loved 
us, and to put the fullest confidence in his 
goodness and willingness to forgive — to as- 
sociate sin with the ideas both of the deepest 



117 

misery and the basest ingratitude — to ad- 
mire the unsearchable wisdom and the high 
principle which have combined the fullest 
mercy with the most uncompromising jus- 
tice — and to love all our fellow-creatures 
from the consideration that our common Fa- 
ther has taken such an interest in their wel- 
fare, and from the thought, that as we have 
been all shipwrecked in the same sea by the 
same wide -wasting tempest, so we are all 
invited by the same gracious voice to take 
refuge in the same haven of eternal r^t. 

It might seem scarcely possible that this 
simple doctrine should be misapprehended; 
and yet^ from the unaccountable and most 
unfortunate propensity to look for religious 
information any where rather than in the 
Bible, it ha3 been perverted in a variety of 
ways according to the tempers of those who 
have speculated on it. It has been some- 
times so incautiously stated, as to give 
ground to cavillers for the charge that the 
Christian scheme represents God's attribute 
of justice as utterly at vai'iance with every 
moral principle. The allegation has as- 
sumed a form somewhat resembling this, 
" that, according to Christianity, God in- 



118 

deed apportions to every instance and de- 
gi'ee of transgression its proper punish- 
ment ; but that, while he rigidly exacts ' 
this punishment, he is not much concerned 
whether the person who pays it be the 
real criminal or an innocent being, provid- 
ed only that it is a full equivalent ; nay, 
that he is under a strange necessity to can- 
cel guilt whenever this equivalent of pu- 
nishment is tendered to him by whatever 
hand. This perversion has arisen from 
the habit amongst some writers on religion 
of pressing too far the analogy between a 
crime and a pecuniary debt. It is not sur- 
prising, that any one who entertains such 
a view of the subject, should reject Chris- 
tianity as a revelation of the God of holi- 
ness and goodness. But this is not the 
view given in the Bible. The account 
which the Bible gives of the matter is this, 
" Herein is love, — not that we loved Grod, 
but that God loved us, and sent his Son to 
be a propitiation for our sins ;" and God 
set forth Jesus Christ, " to declare his 
righteousness." Any view of the doctrine 
which is inconsistent with this account, is 
a perversion of Scripture, for which the 



119 

perverters are themselves responsible, and 
not the Bible. The error consists in sepa- 
rating the actions of God from the inten- 
tion manifested in them towards men. 
Were such a view, however, of the Divine 
Being, as that which has been just mention- 
ed, actually and fully believed by any man 
of an ordinary construction of mind, it 
would assm-edly produce very strange and 
very melancholy results. He would learn 
from it to consider the connexion between 
sin and misery, not as a necessary con- 
nexion, but as an arbitrary one, vv^hich 
might be dissolved, and had been dissolved 
by the authority of mere power. Thus he 
could not identify in his thoughts and feel- 
ings misery with sin, — which is one of the 
prominent lessons of the Bible. He could 
see nothing in the character of God either 
venerable or lovely. And even the restraint 
of fear would be removed by the idea, that 
a penalty had been already paid of greater 
price than any debt of crime which he had 
contracted, or could contract. His heart 
could find in this doctrine no constraining 
power urging him to the fulfilment of the 
great commandments of love to God and 



120 

man. In fact, this doctrine undermines 
the divinity of Christ as much as Socinian- 
ism, inasmuch as it makes a separation be- 
tween the views and character of the Father 
and those of the Son. 

There is another view of this doctrine, 
which, though less revolting to the feelings 
than that which I have just stated, is quite 
as inconsistent with reason. According to 
it, the atonement is a scheme by which 
God has mitigated the strict purity of his 
law ; so that those who live under the gos- 
pel are merely required to yield an imper- 
fect but sincere obedience, instead of that 
perfect obedience to which they were bound 
before they professed the faith of Christ. 
Now, let it be remembered, that the love of 
God tvith all the heart constitutes the sub- 
stance of the law which we are called on to 
obey ; and let it also be remembered, that 
the sacrifice of Christ was made not only as 
a vindication of God's justice in proclaim- 
ing pardon to the guilty, but also for the 
purpose of presenting to the human heart, 
an object most worthy, and most admirably 
fitted to attract all its love ; and then it 
will appear, that those who give tliis inter- 



121 

pretation of the doctrine, do in fact main- 
tain, that God dispenses with our giving 
him our full love, on condition that ice are 
convinced, that he deserves this full love at 
our hands. The whole end and scope of 
religion is lost sight of in this interpret- 
ation. Christ gave himself for iis^ to re* 
deem its from all iniquity^ and to purify 
to himself a peculiar people^ zealous of 
good icorks. A perfect conformity to the 
will of God, is not only perfect obedience 
—it is also perfect happiness : and that 
gracious Father who calls on his creatures 
to be holy as he is holy, calls on them, by 
the verysam.e exhortation, to be happy as he 
is happy. To dispense with our obedience, 
is not mercy to us ; for it is in truth to dis- 
pense with om- happiness. ^Ve are not re- 
ceived into the favoiu: of God at all on the 
ground of our own deservings, but on the 
gi'ound of the satisfaction made to Divine 
justice by the death of Christ as the repre- 
sentative of sinners ; and the belief of this 
mercy, by its natural operation, gradually 
subdues the heart to the love and the obe- 
dience of God. Perfect obedience, then, 
though it is required, and though it is in- 

G 



122 

dispensable to perfect happiness, is not the 
foundation of our hope for eternity : It is 
the object of our hope, not the foundation 
of it. We must be trained up to it by 
the faith of the gospel. It is never attain- 
ed here in its blessed fulness ; and there- 
fore perfect happiness is never attained: 
But the seed of it may be attained, and 
may take root in the heart ; and it has an 
eternity before it, to grow and flovu-ish in. 
An imperfect but sincere obedience, v. ill 
almost always mean in the human judg- 
ment, that degree of obedience which it is 
convenient to pay; — and this degree is 
paid by all men. The real glory of Chris- 
tianity is thus extinguished, because the 
standard of moral duty is lowered. True 
humility can have no place in this system, 
because we limit our duty by our perform- 
ance. And^gratitude for undeserved mercy 
is excluded, except that base gratitude 
which thanks God for permitting us to be 
unholy. God's mercy is a holy mercy : 
It pardons, but never sanctions imperfec- 
tion. 

There is another view of this subject, 
certainly not very uncommon amongst those 



li 



who call themselves Christians, v/hich is as 
subversive of the principle and efficiency of 
the gospel as either of those mentioned 
above. According to this scheme, it is sup- 
posed that our hope before God rests on a 
gi'ound made up partly of oiu- own obedi- 
ence, and partly of the atoning efficacy of 
Chi'ist's sacrifice. The work of the Savi- 
our is thus made a supplement to the de- 
ficiencies of human merit; and this sup- 
plement is conceived to be added as a soil: 
of reward for diUgent obedience. The de- 
cent and orderly, and well-behaved mem- 
ber of society, is thus considered to have a 
just though an undefined claim to a parti- 
cipation in the benefits of the Redeemer's 
death, whilst the utterly abandoned and 
profligate is considered udiworthy, in liis 
present state, of approaching the cross of 
Christ, and is therefore recommended to 
reform, that he may bring himself into a 
condition which may entitle him to do this 
with a reasonable hope of acceptance. There 
is a looseness and a vagueness generally at- 
tached to the ideas of that class of nominal 
believers to which I refer, that makes it 
difficult to meet or to answer tlieir theories : 



124 

but I am sure that I may confidently ap- 
peal to many, whether the statement which 
has been given, does not bear a very near 
resemblance to some views of the doctrine 
of the atonement with which they are well 
acquainted. 

The proper answer to these views, when 
held by one who really assents to the in^ 
spii'ation of the Bible, is, that they are at 
direct variance with the Bible. Paul says 
that justification is declared to be of faith, 
for this very reason, that it might be ^ra- 
tidtousy and that all boasting on the part 
of man might be excluded, &c. ; " not by 
works of righteousness which we have done, 
but of his mercy he saved us." And when 
the Jews, who seemed to have prejudices 
closely allied to those y»^hich we are examin- 
ing, reproached Clmst as the friend of pub- 
licans and shiners, he answered them, that 
his business was with sinners ; " that the 
whole needed not a physician, but they that 
were sick," and " that he came to seek and 
to save that which was lost." 

According to the revealed record, then, 
that combination of justice and of mercy 
wliich was manifested on the cross, is the 



125 

exclusive ground of hope before God. — and 
on this ground every one is invited to rest, 
in the character of a lost sinner, v/ithout 
delay, and without any fiaiitless and pre- 
sumptuous attempts to attain a previous 
worthiness. 

It may appear to some, that this is a 
question rather about words than things ; 
but, in fact, it goes to the v^ry root of the 
Christian character. Is it not evident, that 
upon this system there can be no true hu- 
mility ? because, as we know that that por- 
tion of our hope which rests upon Christ is 
akeady fixed, and therefore not liable to 
cbange, our attention is natm^ally and ne- 
cessarily dra^^m almost entirely to the re- 
maining portion, which is to be made out 
by ourselves, and which is therefore liable 
to be changed. Our own doings and de- 
servings become thus the chief objects of 
our thought And, let me ask, what are 
the moral impressions which such objects 
are fitted to make on the character? If 
falsely viewed as really worthy titles to the 
favour of God, they can produce no impres- 
sions but those of self-conceit and self-con- 
fidence ; and if rightly and truly apprecia- 



126 

ted, they can produce nothing but appre- 
hension or despair. The beauty of the 
Christian revelation consists in this, that 
the same object which gives peace to the 
conscience, produces contrition of heart, and 
is also the most powerful stimulant to holy 
and grateful obedience. Tlie work of Christ 
is the sole ground of hope, and is therefore 
the chief object of thought ; and the im- 
pressions emanating from this object sum 
up the Christian character. If I might 
ventm-e, on such a subject, to allude to the 
profane myth ology of Greece, I think that 
an illustration of this might be drawn from 
the fabled contest betvreen Hercules and 
Antaeus. Antaeus was the son of the earth, 
and whenever he touched the earth, fresh 
vigour was communicated to him. Those 
blows therefore which he sustained from his 
adversary, andwhidi in other ciixumstances 
would have destroyed him, were to him the 
means of increasing his strength, because 
they brought him into nearer contact with 
the earth, which was the source of his 
strength. The ground on which he rested 
was the stimulus of his exertions. ^\Tien 
the Christian has apprehensions for his 



127 

safety, he looks to the ground of his hope, 
and there he finds not only peace but 
vigour. 

But the whole of this erroneous view of 
the doctrine rests on a false notion with 
regard to the purpose of the gospel. The 
gospel addi'esses men as rebels diseased by 
sin, and already condemned. The salvation 
which it offers is most strikingly explained 
by the prophet Jeremiah, chap, xxxi, 31, and 
three following verses. It consists in a 
spiritual character: " I will put my law in 
their inward parts, and write it in their 
hearts ;" and the mighty instrument by 
which this effect is to be accomplished is 
pointed out in the end of the 34th verse, 
^^ for 1 will forgive their iniquity, and I 
will remember thek sin no m.ore." That 
is, the circumstances and the manner in 
which this pardon is to be proclaimed, shall 
attract the hearts of men to the love and 
the obedience of God. Salvation, then, 
means the holy love of God, — a holy obe- 
dience of heart, arising from a belief of that 
mercy which is proclaimed in the gospel. 
Salvation and obedience mean precisely the 
same thing ; and it is as absm^d to say that a_ 



128 

man is saved by obedience, as to say, that 
a man is restored to health by getting^ well. 
We are not called on to obey, in order to 
obtain pardon ; but we are called on to be- 
lieve the proclamation of pardon, in order 
that we may obey. " The gospel is said to 
be the power of God unto salvation to every 
one that believeth ;" and why ? " Because 
God's method of justification is revealed in 
it to be by faith." Rom. i. 16, 17. I do 
believe that many preach a different doc- 
trine, from a notion that the true gospel 
offer of free unconditional pardon is unfa- 
vourable to practical obedience and holiness. 
But, in fact, there is nothing acknowledged 
by the Bible to be obedience or holiness 
which does not spring from the belief of 
this free, undeserved mercy. The attempt 
at obedience without this, is a most thank- 
less labom', — it is never successful — and 
even were it successful, it would be the 
obedience of the hand and not of the heart. 
^ It is as if we chose to move the index of a 
clock with the finger, instead of Avinding it 
up. The language of the gospel is, " You 
shall be ashamed and confounded, because 
I am pacified towards you for all your ini- 



129 

qiiities." This plan of pacification \^a'ought 
out by God himself, is the great subject of 
the Bible ; and the proclamation of this 
free pardon is the preaching of the gospel ; 
and he who, in his system of teaching, 
does not hold this up in its proper pre- 
eminence, is not a preacher of the gospel 
of Christ. He lays aside that weapon of 
ethereal temper which God has chosen out 
of the armoury of heaven, and which he 
blessed and sanctified for the destruction 
of moral evil, and goes forth to encounter 
the powers of darkness without a single 
well-groimded hope of success. And I am 
confident — that this same doctrine of free 
grace, if it could be candidly view^ as a 
mere abstract question in mor^l science, 
w^ould compel the approbation of a true 
philosopher, — and that the compromise or 
mutilation of it (which is less uncommon 
than the value of souls would lead us to de- 
sire) is not more opposed to the authority 
of the word of God, than it is to the prin- 
ciples of sound reason. 

This subject has been already illustrated 
by examples drawn from human life. I 
shall now therefore vary the view of it, by 

a 2 



ISO 

considering it in connexion with the rite 
o£ sacrifice. 

The same truth with regard to the cha- 
racter of God and the condition of man, 
which is so fully developed in the New 
Testament, is exhibited also in the Old 
through an obscurer medium, — a medium 
of types and shadows and prophecy. When, 
the Messiah was promised to our First Pa- 
rents, the memory and the principle of the 
promise were embodied in the institution 
of sacrifice. Sensible objects were neces- 
sary, in< order to recal to the thoughts, and 
to explain to the understanding of man, the 
spiritual declarations of God. Under the 
Jewish economy, this institution was en- 
larged and diversified ; but still it pointed 
to the same fact^ and illustrated the same 
principle. The fact was, the death of 
Christ for the sins of the world ; the prin- 
ciple was, that God is at once just and mer- 
ciful, and that these attributes of his na- 
ture are in joint and harmonious operation. 
Multitudes, probably both of the Jews and 
of those v/ho lived before the Mosaic sys- 
tem, recognized in their sacrifices that fu- 
tvu'e salvation which v/as to be wrought 



131 

out by tiie promised seed ; but a far greater* 
number must be supposed to have stopped 
short at the rite, through want of spiritual 
discernment. "When the prefigm^ed fact 
was thus forgotten, let us consider whether 
the moral principle exhibited in the cere- 
mony might not still in some measure be 
understood, and affect the character of the 
devout woi*shipper. The full vindication of 
God's holiness, and of the trath of his de-- 
nunciations against sin, could indeed rest 
only on the sacrifice of the Divine Saviour; 
but although those who saw this great thing 
through the types which partially obsciu'ed 
whilst they represented it, could alone re- 
ceive the full benefits of the institution, 
shall we think that those who did not enter 
into the spirit of prophecy, were entirely 
excluded from the operation of its prin- 
ciple, and saw nothing of the Divine cha- 
racter manifested in it ? As the prosecu- 
tion of this inquiry may tend to throv/ 
greater light on some viev^^s which have 
been already given, I shall: here consider 
the subject of sacrifice apart altogether- 
from its prophetic import. This viev/ of 
the matter simply regards those particulars 



132 

which rendered the rite of sacrifice a fit em- 
blem of the atonement of Christ. When 
God teaches by emblems, he chuses such 
emblems as are natm-ally calculated to im- 
press the principle of the antitype upon 
our minds. There is then a suitableness in 
animal sacrifices, to give some idea of that 
great truth which was so gloriously deve- 
loped in the work of the Saviour, when the 
fulness of time had arrived. Let us con- 
sider, then, wherein consists this suitable- 
ness. What is the meaning of a sacrifice ? 
What is the purpose of killing a poor ani- 
mal, because a man has sinned ? Can it 
be supposed that a wise and good God will 
in reality make a transference of the guilt 
of the man to the head of the beast? — 
Impossible : and it is equally impossible to 
conceive that God should command his 
creatm'es to do a thing which they could 
not understand, and by which therefore 
their characters could not be benefited. 
The institution contained a great truth, 
exhibiting God's character, and aifecting 
man's. The suppliant who came with his 
sacrifice before God, virtually said, " Thou 
hast appointed this rite as the form through 



133 

which thy mercy is declared to sinners ; 
and it is indeed in thy mercy alone that I 
can hope, for I have deserved this death 
which I now inflict, as the just reward of 
my transgressions." Thns the mercy and 
the holiness of God were both kept in view 
by this rite ; and gratitude and penitence 
would be impressed to a certain degree on 
the characters of those whose hearts accom- 
panied their hands in the service. This is 
just an exhibition of the principle in na- 
tural religion, that God is gracious, and 
worthy of our highest love ; and that sin 
deserves punishment, and is connected with 
misery. Our gratitude, however, for for- 
giveness would be just in proportion to our 
apprehensions of the deiijierit of sin and 
the danger connected with it, and also to 
our idea of the interest which God took in 
our welfare. The death of an animal was 
the only measure of the guilt and danger 
of sin, which these sacrifices exhibited; 
and forgiveness, which seems an easy thing 
where there is nothing to fear from the 
power of the offender, was the only measure 
of the interest which God had taken in our 
welfare. Thus, these saciifices rather in- 



134 

culcated on the worsbippers the danger and 
demerit of sin, (and this in no ver}^ high de- 
gree), than the goodness of God. The ani- 
mal which was slain was the property of 
the suppliant; and he might feel the loss 
of it to be a species of atoning penalty, as 
well as a typical representation of the guilt 
of sin, which would very much diminish 
his idea both of God's free mercy, and of 
the guilt of sin which eould be so easily 
atoned. The sacrifice of a man would have 
furnished a greater measure of guilt ; but 
it could not have impressed on the mind 
any stl'onger conviction of the graciousness 
of God. If we ascend the scale of being, 
and suppose an incarnate angel to become 
the victim, the measure by which we may 
estimate the guilt of sin encreases, to be 
sure, in a very high degree ; but still, there 
is nothing in such a sacrifice which speaks 
in unequivocal language of the exceeding 
goodness of God- Although the sufferings 
of the angel were considered to be perfectly 
voluntary, it would not alter the view of 
God's character : Our gratitude would in- 
deed be called forth by the goodness of 
the angel ; but forgiveness still would 



135 

seem a cheap and easy thing on the part 
of God, whose creative fiat could call 
into existence millions of brighter spirits. 
That Grod in human nature should him- 
self become the victim, is a scheme which 
indeed outstrips all anticipation, and baffles 
the utmost stretch of our minds when we 
labour to form an idea of perfect benevo- 
lence and perfect holiness ; but yet it is 
the only scheme wiich can fully meet the 
double object of strongly attracting our 
love to God,, and at the same time of deep- 
ly convincing us of the danger and base- 
ness and ingratitude of sin. This gives 
us a measure by which we may estimate 
both the Divine goodness and our own 
guilt. It is indeed an exhibition of " love 
which passeth knowledge." But yet, when 
the conscience comes to be fully enlighten- 
ed, nothing short of this marvellous exhi- 
bition can produce peace,. \^Tien a man 
is once thoroughly convinced that sin con- 
sists in a choice of the heart different from 
the will of God, even although that choice 
does not vent itself in an external action^ 
he must feel that he has accumulated, 
through the past days of his life, and that 



136 

he is still daily accumulating, a most fear- 
ful weight of guilt. A day of retribution 
approaches, and he must meet God face to 
face. A simple declaration of forgiveness 
on the part of God, would certainly in 
these circumstances be most comforting to 
him ; but still it would be difficult to per- 
suade him, that the Holy One who inha- 
biteth eternity, could look with kindness 
on a being so polluted and so opposite in 
every respect to himself in moral charac- 
ter. Until this persuasion takes hold of 
his mind, he can neither enjoy real peace, 
nor be animated with that grateful love 
which can alone lead to a more perfect obe- 
dience. The siu'passing kindness and ten- 
derness demonstrated in the cross of Christ, 
and the full satisfaction there rendered to 
his violated law, when understood and be- 
lieved, must sweep away all doubts and 
fears with regard to God's disposition to- 
wai'ds him, and must awaken in his heart 
that sentiment of grateful and reverential 
attachment which is the spiritual seed of 
the heavenly inheritance. " If, when we 
were enemies, we were reconciled to God 
by the death of his Son, much more being 



137 

reconciled, we shall be saved by bis living 
love." 

It seems to me, that the Scriptural state- 
ment of this doctrine is in itself the best 
answer that can be made to Socinians. If 
Christ was only an inspii'ed teacher, his 
death is of very small importance to us ; 
because it gives no demonstration of the 
kindness of God, and therefore can neither 
give peace to a troubled conscience, nor ex- 
cite grateful affection ; and also, because it 
gives no high measure of the guilt and 
danger of sin, and therefore cannot impress 
us strongly with a sense of its inherent ma- 
lignity. We thus lose the whole benefit of 
Christianity as ^palpable exhibition of the 
Divine character, and are thrown back 
again on the inefficiency and vagueness of 
abstract principles. In this view likewise, 
all those passages of Scripture in which our 
gratitude, our reverential esteem, and our 
filial confidence, are so triumphantly chal- 
lenged on the ground of the death of Christ, 
become empty unmeaning words : For, if 
Christ was not God, there is no necessary 
or natural connexion between the belief of 
his death and the excitement of such senti- 



138 

ments in our hearts towards God ; while, 
on the supposition that he was God, the 
connexion is most distinct and unavoidable. 
In fact, if Jesus Christ was merely a man, the 
greatest part of the Bible is mei*e bombast. 
To a man who disbelieves the inspiration of 
the Bible, this of course is noargmnent. But 
svurely he ought not, in a matter of such 
unspeakable importance, to reject a doctrine 
which may be true, without examining it 
in all its bearings. He. ought not to take 
the account of it upon trust, when he has 
the record itself to apply to. He is right 
to reject an absurd statement ; but he is 
wrong to decide without investigation that 
this absurd statement is contained in the 
Bible.. Let him eonsult the Bible, — let 
him consider what this doctrine declares 
of the character of God, — let him trace the 
natural effects of its belief on the character 
of man, — let him understand that it ex- 
pands our ideas of the Divine holiness by 
the very demonstration which attracts our 
love, that it quickens the sensitiveness of 
conscience by the very demonstration which 
gives peace to the conscience, — and he may 
continue to reject it ; but he will not deny 



139 

that there is a reasonableness in it — that it 
contains all the elements of a perfect doc- 
trine — that it is most glorifying to God 
and most suitable to man. To sum up my 
observations on thi« subject : The doctrine 
of the atonement, by the incarnation, and 
death of Christ, is illustrative of the Bivine 
mercy, and vindicative of the Divine holi^ 
ness; it is a foundation of hope before God^ 
amply sufficient for the most guilty of men ; 
and it is fitted to implant in the vilest heart 
which will receive it, the principles of true 
penitence and true gratitude, of ardent at- 
tachment^ to the holy character of God, and 
of a cordial devotion to his will. 

The hallowed purpose of restoring men 
to the lost image of their Creator, is in fact 
the very soul and spirit of the Bible ; and 
whenever this object does not distinctly ap- 
pear, the whole system becomes dead and 
useless. In creeds and confessions this great 
purpose is not made to stand forth with its 
real prominency; its intimate connexion 
with the different articles of faith is not 
adverted to ; the point of the whole argu- 
ment is thus lost, and Christianity is mis- 
apprehended to be a mere list of mysterious 



140 

facts. One who understands the Bible may 
read them with profit, because his own mind 
may fill up the deficiencies, and when their 
statements are correct, they may assist in- 
quirers in certain stages, by bringing un- 
der their eye a concentrated view of all the 
points of Christian doctrine, and they may 
serve, according to their contents, either as 
public invitations to their communion, or as 
public warnings against it, and they may 
stand as doctrinal landmarks ; but they are 
not calculated to impress on the mind of a 
learner a vivid and useful ai)prehension of 
Christianity. The object in them is not to 
teach religion, but to defend it : and whilst 
they keep their own place, they are benefi- 
cial. But any person who draws his know- 
ledge of the Christian doctrines exclusively 
or principally from such som'ces, must mn 
considerable risk of losing the benefit of 
them, by overlooking their moral objects ; 
and, in so doing, he may be tempted to 
reject them altogether, because he will be 
blind to their strongest evidence, which 
consists in then- perfect adaptation to these 
objects. The Bible is the only perfectly- 
piu:e source of Divine knowledge ; and the 



141 

man who is unacquainted with it, is in fact 
ignorant of the doctrines of Christianity, 
however well read he may be in the schemes 
and systems and controversies which have 
been written on the subject. 

The habit of viewing the Christian doc- 
trines and the Christian character as two 
separate things, has a most pernicious ten- 
dency. A man who, in his scheme of Chris- 
tianity, says, " here are so many things to 
be believed, and here are so many to be 
done," has already made a fundamental 
mistake. The doctrines are the principles 
which must excite and animate the per- 
formance : They are the points from which 
the lines of conduct flow ; and as lines may 
be supposed to be formed by the progress 
of their points, or to be drawn out of their 
substance, so the line of Christian conduct 
is only formed by the progressive action of 
Christian principle, or is drawn out of its 
substance. 

The doctrines of revelation form a great 
spMtual mould, fitted by Divine wisdom 
for impressing the stamp of the Christian 
character on the minds that receive them. 
I shall here mention some of the leading 



14£ 

features of that character, as connected with 
the corresponding doctrines. 

The love of God is the radical principle 
of the Christian character ; and to implant 
this principle, is the grand object and the 
distinct tendency of the Christian doctrines. 
And it may be proper here to repeat an 
observation which has been ah-eady much 
insisted on, — that this love is not a vague 
affection for an ill-defined object, but a sen- 
timent of approbation and attachment to a 
distinctly-defined character. The Bible calls 
us to the exercise of this affection, by set- 
ting before us a history of the imsi}eakable 
mercy of God towards man. At first sight, 
it might seem impossible to conceive any 
way in which the mercy of God could be 
very strikingly or affectingly manifested 
towai*ds his creatures. His omnipotence 
and unbounded so^^ereignty make every im- 
aginable-gift cheap and -easy to him. The 
pardon of the sins committed by such feeble 
w^orms, seems no great stretch of compas- 
sion in so great and so unassailable a mo- 
narch. God knew the heart of man. He 
knew that such would be his reasonings ; 
aijd he prepared a work of mercy, which 



143 

might in all points meet these conceptions. 
God so loved the world, that he gave his 
only-begotten Son for its salvation. H:s 
was not the benevolence which gives an un- 
missed mite out of a boundless store, — it 
was a self-sacrificing benevolence, which is 
but meagrely shadowed forth by any earth- 
ly comparison. We admire Codiais sacri- 
ficing his life for his country ; we admire 
the guide plunging into the quicksand to 
warn and save his companions ; we admire 
the father suffering the sentence of his own 
law in the stead of his son ; we admu'e Re- 
g*ulus submitting to voluntary tortui-e for 
the glory of Rome : But the goodness of 
God, in becoming man, and suffering, the 
just for the unjust, that he might demion- 
strate to them the evil of sin, — that he 
might attract their affections to his own 
character, and thus induce them to follow 
him in the way of happiness, — was a good- 
ness as much superior to any human good- 
ness, as God is above man, or as the eter- 
nal happiness of the soul is above this fleet- 
ing existence ; and, if believed, must ex- 
cite a proportionate degree of admiration 
and gratitude. 



144 

The active and cordial love of our fellow- 
creatures is the second Christian duty. And 
can this sentiment be more powerfully im- 
pressed upon us, than by the fact, that 
Christ's blood was shed for them as well as 
for ourselves ; and by the consideration that 
this blood reproaches us with the basest in- 
gratitude, when we feel or act maliciously, 
or even slightingly, towards those in whom 
our heavenly Benefactor took so deep an 
interest ? Under the sense of our Lord's 
continual presence, we shall endeavour to 
promote even their temporal welfare; but, 
above all, we shall be earnest for the good 
of their souls, which he died to redeem. 

Christians are commanded to mortify the 
earthly and selfish passions of ambition and 
avarice and sensuality. Our Lord died 
that he might redeem us from such base 
thraldom, and allure us to the pure liberty 
of the sons of God. The lust of the flesh, 
the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, 
were in fact his murderers. If we love him, 
we must hate them : If we love our own 
peace, we must hate them ; for they sepa- 
rate the soul from the Prince of Peace. The 
happiness of eternity consists in a confor- 



145 

mity to the God of holiness ; and shall we 
spend our few days in confirming ourselves 
in habits directly opposed to him ? — No ; 
rather let us begin heaven below, by begin- 
ning to be holy. 

The gospel exhorts us to humility ; and 
deep humility, indeed, must be the result 
of a true acquiescence in the judgment 
which God passed upon us when he con- 
demned his Son as the representative of 
our race. And when we think of what 
our Almighty Father hath done for us, 
our hearts must often convict us of the 
strange contrast which is exhibited betwixt 
our dealings with him and his dealings 
with us. 

We are commanded to be diligent in 
the duties of life, and to be patient under 
its sufferings. And to enforce this precept, 
we are instructed that the minutest event 
of life is ordered by him who loved us and 
gave himself for us ; and that all these 
events, how trifling or how calamitous soever 
they may appear, are yet necessary parts of 
a great plan of spiritual education, by which 
he trains his people to his own likeness, and 
fits them for their heavenly inheritance. 

H 



146 

He walked himself by the same road ; only 
it was rougher ; and he hath shown us by 
his example, that the cross is a step to 
glory. 

The Scriptures teach, that the sentence 
of death falls upon all mankind, in conse- 
quence of the transgression of the first in- 
dividual ; and that eternal life is bestowed 
on account of the perfect obedience of Je- 
sus Christ. The grand moral purpose for 
which this doctrine is introduced, is to im- 
press upon our minds a sense of the punish- 
ment due to transgression — of the exceed- 
ing opposition which exists between sin 
and happiness, and of the exceeding Imr- 
mony which subsists between perfect holi- 
ness and eternal glory. The death of a 
single individual could give no adequate 
manifestation of the pernicious nature of 
sin. Death appears sometimes rather as a 
blessing than an evil; and in general no 
moral lesson is received from it, except the 
vanity of earthly things. But when a sin- 
gle offence is presented to us, and there is 
appended to it the extinction of a whole 
race as its legitimate consequence, we can- 
not evade the conviction of its inh^ent ma- 



147 

lignity. As the value of this lesson, if 
really received, infinitely overbalances in 
the accounts of eternity the loss of this 
brief mode of our existence, there can be no 
just ground of complaint against the great 
Disposer of all things. 

In the same way, the hope of eternal life 
through the obedience of Christ, suggests 
to us the idea of the strong love and appro- 
bation which God feels for moral perfection, 
and the indissoluble connexion in the nature 
of things between happiness and holiness. 

The Divine government in 'this respect 
is just a vivid expression of the great moral 
attribute of God, " that he loveth righteous- 
ness, and hateth iniquity." A simple par- 
don, bestowed without any accompanying 
circumstances, must have drawn some de- 
gree of gratitude from the criminal, if he 
knew his danger; and this would have 
been all : But when he views the perfect 
and holy obedience of a great benefactor as 
the ground of his pardon, he is induced to 
look with love and admiration towards that 
obedience which gained the Divine favour, 
as well as towards the friend who paid it. 
A feeling of humble and affectionate de- 



148 

penelence on the Saviour, a dread and ha- 
tred of sin, and a desire after holiness, are 
the natural fruits of the belief of this doc- 
trine. 

That plan of the Divine government by 
which God deals with men through a re- 
presentative, occupies an important place in 
revealed religion. In the observations which 
I have here made on this subject, as well 
as through the whole course of the Treatise,. 
I have in a great measure confined my 
remarks to the direct connexion which sub- 
sists between the doctrines of the Bible, 
and the character which the belief of them 
is fitted to produce in the mind of man : 
And with this view, I have called the at- 
tention of the reader principally to the su- 
periority in real efficiency which palpable 
facts, as illustrative of moral principles, 
possess over a statement of the same prin- 
ciples when in an unembodied and abstract 
form : But I should be doing a real injury to 
the cause which I wish to advocate, were I to 
be the means of conducting any one to the 
conclusion, that Christianity is nothing 
more than a beautiful piece of moral me- 
chanism, or that its doctrines were mere 



149 

typical emblems of the moral principles in 
the Divine mind, well adapted to the un- 
derstandings and feelings of men. Sup- 
posing the history of Codrus to be true, he 
was under a moral necessity to act as he 
did, independently of any intention to in- 
fuse the spirit of patriotism into his coun- 
trymen ; and, supposing the Bible to be 
true, God was under the moral necessity 
of his own character, to act as he is there 
represented to have done. The acts there 
ascribed to him are real acts, not paraboli- 
cal pictures : They were not only fitted 
and intended to impress the minds of his 
creatures — they were also the necessary re- 
sults and the true vindications of his own 
character. This belief is inseparably con- 
nected with a belief of the reality of Christ's 
sufferings ; and if Christ's sufferings were 
not real, we may give up the Bible. These 
sufferings are the foundation of a Chris- 
tian's hope before God, not only because 
he sees in them a most marvellous proof of 
the Divine love, but also because he sees 
in them the sufferings of the representative 
of sinners. He sees the denunciations of 
the law fulfilled, and the bitter cup of in- 



150 

dignation allotted to apostacy drained to 
the very dregs ; and he thus perceives that 
God is just even when justifying the guilty ,-^ 
The identity of the Judge and the victim 
dispels the misty ideas of blind vindictive- 
ness with A^diich this scheme may some- 
times have been perversely enveloped ; and 
he approaches God with the humble yet 
confident assm-ance that he will favourably 
receive all who come to him in the name 
of. Christ. ^\liilst he continues in this 
world, he will remember that the link which 
binds heaven and earth together is unbro- 
ken, and tha^t his great Representative does 
not in the midst of glory foi'get what he felt 
when he was a man of sorrows below. This 
relation to the Saviour wall spiritualize the 
aiFections of the believer, and raise him 
above the afflictions of mortality ; and will 
produce in him a conformity to the charac- 
ter of Christ, which is another name for 
the happiness of heaven^ 

I have hitherto been considering the 
Christian doctrines chiefly as facts embody- 
ing the principles of the Divine character ; 
but this spiritual union with the Saviour, 
as the head and representative of his peo- 



151 



pie, gives to his religion a deeper interest ^: 



and a sublimer and more unearthly charac- 
ter than could be excited or expressed by 
the highest views of holy and gracious 
worth, even in its more glorious and mo&t 
lovely operation. We know something of 
what his official employment is in the sanct-^ 
uary above; we know something of his glory 
and of his joy : And shall we not, even in 
this vale of tears, endeavour to enter into 
his holy desu-es, and sympathize with his 
affections, and triumph in his universal do- 
minion? — He once suffered for us — He 
now reigns for us. His people were once 
represented on the cross at Calvary, and 
they are now represented on the throne of 
Heaven. 

The doctrine of the Holy Spirit is also 
connected with most important moral con- 
sequences. He is represented as dictating 
originally the revealed word, and as still 
watching and assisting its progress. He 
is where the truth is, and he dwells in the 
hearts where it operates. The general 
idea of the omnipresence of God is chiefly 
connected with the belief of his providence 
and protection, his approving or condemn- 



^: 



152 

ing ; bvit the doctrine of the Spirit is con- 
nected in the minds of Christians simply 
with a belief of his accompanying and 
giving weight and authority to revealed 
truth. The truth becomes thus closely 
associated in their minds with a sense of 
the presence and the gracious solicitude of 
God. 

With regard to the mode of the opera- 
tion of the Holy Spirit on the human 
mind, the Bible says nothing; — it simply 
testifies the fact. To this divine agent we 
are directed to apply, for the enlighten- 
ing of the eyes of our understanding, for 
strength in the inner man, and for all the 
Christian qualities. These effects are in 
other places of Scriptm^e referred to the 
influence of revealed truth itself. We are 
also told, that the Spirit takes of the things 
relating to Christ, and presents them to 
the soul. We may gather from this, that 
the Spirit never acts, except through the 
medium of the doctrines of the Bible. He 
uses them as instruments naturally fitted 
for the work. He does not produce the 
love of God, except by the instrumentality 
of that divine truth which testifies of the 



153 

moral excellency and kindness of God. 
He does not produce humility, but through 
the medium of that truth which declares 
the extent and spirituality of the require- 
ments of God's law. This doctrine, then, 
does not in the slightest degree invalidate 
the argument in favour of revelation, which 
has been deduced from the natm'al con- 
nexion between believing its doctrines and 
obeying its precepts. These doctrines would 
of themselves persuade and sanctify a spirit 
which was not by inclination opposed to 
their tendency. This divine agent does 
not excite feelings or emotions in the mind^ 
independent of reason or an intelligible 
cause : The whole matter of the Bible is 
addressed to the reason, and its doctrines 
are intelligible causes of certain moral ef- 
fects on the characters of those who believe 
them. The Spirit of God brings these 
causes to act upon the mind with their na- 
tural innate power. This influence, then, 
is quite different from that inspiration by 
which prophets were enabled to declare fu- 
ture events. It is an influence which pro- 
bably can never be distinguished, in our 
consciousness, from the innate influence of 
H 2 



154 

argument or motive.^ A firm-minded man, 
unused to the melting mood, may on a 
particular occasion be moved and excited 
by a tale of wo far beyond his common 
state of feeling : His friends may wonder 
at an agitation so unusual ; they may ask 
him how this story has affected him more 
than other stories of a similar nature ; but 
he will not be able to give any other reasonr 
tlian what is contained in the distressing 
facts which he had been listening to. His 
greater susceptibility in this instance might 
have originated from some change in his 
bodily temperament, or from certain trains 
of thought which had previously been pass- 
ing through his mind : But these circum- 
stances did not make the impression ; they 
only made him more fit to i^ceive the im- 
pression from an object which was naturally 
calculated to make it. The impression 
was entirely made by the story, — just as 
the impression upon wax is entirely made 
by the seal, although heat maybe required 
to fit it for receiving the impression, 

I have u«ed this illustration to show 
that the influence of the Spirit does not 
necessarily destroy, and is not necessarily 



155 

independent of, that natural relation of 
cause and effect which subsists between 
the doctrines taught and the moral charac- 
ter recommended by the Bible. 

When the prophet Elisha was surround- 
ed in Dothan by the Syrian army, he felt 
no fear, because he placed full confidence 
in the protection of God. But his servant 
was terrified by the appearance of inevit-^ 
able ruin. It pleased God, however, to de- 
liver him at once from his agitation akd 
perplexity, even before he thought fit to 
remove the appearance of the danger. And 
how was this effected? God opened the 
young man's eyes, and he saw and beheld 
the mountain was full of horses and cha- 
riots of fire round about Elisha. , God here 
interposed miraculously, in order to calm 
the man's spirit. But mark the nature of 
the interposition ; God dealt with the man 
as a reasonable Being, — he gave him ocu- 
lar demonstration of' his safety. He did 
not work in his mind an unaccountable in- 
trepidity in the face of danger which lie 
could not have explained, but discovered to 
him a fact, which, from the nature of the 
human mind, could not fail of dispelHng 



156 

his fearful apprehensions. Had he given 
full credit to the assurances of his master, 
his mind would have been at peace with- 
out the interposition of this supernatm-al 
revelation. But although he acknowledged 
his master to be a prophet, yet he did not 
place that implicit reliance on his testimony 
which was sufficient to overcome the vio- 
lent excitement produced in his mind by 
the visible objects of terror which surround- 
ed him. \\^ien his eyes were opened, he 
saw and believed ; and this belief brought 
peace. It was not the miraculous inter- 
position abstractly, which produced this 
ejffect ; it was the glorious army of guardian 
angels, miraculously unveiled to his eye, 
which inspired him with confidence, and 
enabled him to despise the Syrian power : 
If, instead of these friendly hosts, he had 
seen the angel whom David saw with a 
sword drawn over Jerusalem, the sight would 
only have increased his alarm. It is then 
the object believed, from whatever source 
the belief proceeds, whether from seeing or 
hearing, which operates on the mind. 

That the belief of the gospel is, in every 
instance, the work of the Holy Spirit, no 



157 

one who believes in the Bible can doubt ; 
and indeed this doctrine is the ground of 
the Christian's confidence that he shall con- 
tinue stedfast unto the end : But still it 
must be remembered, that it is not the su- 
pernatm-al agency itself abstractly, which 
gives Cliristian peace and Christian strength 
to the mind, but the history of the Sa- 
viour's work, which through this mediiun 
is spiritually revealed to it. The Lord open- 
ed the heart of Lydia to attend to the 
things spoken by Paul. If our notions of 
divine influence lead us away from attend- 
ind to the things contained in the gospel, 
we are deluding ourselves. And on the 
other hand, if our mode of studying the 
Bible does not cultivate in us a conviction 
of our own weakness, and an habitual de- 
pendence on the operations of the Holy 
Spirit, we certainly do not belong to that 
society who are said to be " all taught of 
God," and have no spiritual discernment 
of the truth : When we study the doc- 
trines of revelation, we ought to study 
them in that connexion in which they stand 
in the Bible itself. They are not given to us 
for the purpose of exercising our faculties in 



158 

speculative discussion, but for practical use- 
fulness. The observance of this rule will 
save us from much perplexity, and many a 
thorny and agitating question. In the Bible, 
this doctrine of Divine influence which we 
are now considering, is uniformly connected 
with the most explicit declarations, that man 
is free to act, and responsible for his actions. 
Man's inability to obey God consists abso- 
lutely in his unwillingness, and is but ano- 
ther name for the greatest degree of this. 
There is nothing to prevent him from em- 
bracing the gospel, and walking in the w^ays 
of holiness, but his own ojjposite inclina- 
tions./^ This is the condemnation, that light 
has come unto the world, and men have loved 
darkness rather than light, because their 
deeds are evil," John iii. 19. It is worthy 
of remark, that our Lord makes this state- 
ment in that very conversation iii which he 
insists on the necessity under which every 
individual lies of being spiritually born 
again, before he can enter the kingdom of 
God. In the Gospel, sinners are called 
upon, not to be supernaturally influenced, 
but to believe the Divine testimony. And 
the question at last will be, not by what 



1^9 

influence or arguments were you led to the 
Saviour, but, did you embrace his offered 
salvation ? It is not very uncommon to hear 
religious persons speak of faith and holiness 
merely as evidences of a Divine operation 
on the heart, and as valuable simply on 
this account. But such language is not 
borrowed from the Scriptures. Here we 
find faith and holiness considered as quali- 
ties valuable in themselves, and as duties 
imperative on all to whom the message is 
published. '' Repent (i. e. change your 
principles) and believe the gospel," is the 
substance of the first discourse preached, 
after the ascension of our Lord, to liis very 
murderers. And this same exhortation is 
tjirow^n loose upon the world, and when re- 
jected, is rejected wilfully and at the peril 
of the rejectors. The evidences for the gos- 
pel, both external and internal, are suited 
to the human faculties ; and so too is the 
substance of its contents. A sinner who 
admits its evidence, and who reads it with 
the attention which such an admission de- 
mands, and Avlio finds in it peace to his 
conscience and good hope for eternity, 
through the gi'eat atonement, will assuredr 



160 

ly, if he has indeed made this happy dis- 
covery, acknowledge, with humility and 
gratitude, the kindness of God in leading 
him out of darkness into this marvellous 
light ; and he will continue to look to that 
divine and unseen influence, which first 
stopped him in his downward course, for 
support and encouragement dm'ing the re- 
mainder of his pilgrimage. And he who 
is condemned for rejecting the gospel will 
be condemned on this ground, viz. that he 
might, as well as ought, to have done other- 
wise ; and that he has resisted the convic- 
tion both of his reason and conscience, 
w^hich had testified against him. It is our 
duty and our privilege to look to the free 
offer of salvation, and the sufficiency of the 
atonement ; and we are wandering from 
the Bible, and from peace, and from piety, 
when we occupy om* thoughts with such 
difficulties. 

But why was this doctrine revealed, and 
what benefit is to be derived from believing 
it ? ^Vliat effect' is the belief of it cal- 
culated to produce on our characters ; and 
what light does it throw on the character 
of God, or on the condition of man ? As 



161 

the work of the Spirit is to enlighten the 
eyes of our understanding with regard to 
divine truth and to take of the things of 
Christ and ^ow them to us, the belief of 
this doctrine of course includes the convic- 
tion, that we stand in need of this light, 
and that the inclination of our hearts na- 
turally leads us from the things of Christ. 
This conviction, if real, will humble us be- 
fore God, and excite us to a jealous vigi- 
lance over every motion of our minds. In 
this doctrine, also, God gives a manifesta- 
tion of his own character. He presents 
himself to his weak and ignorant creatures, 
as ready to meet all their wants, and sup- 
ply all their deficiencies ; and thus conde- 
scends to solicit their confidence. He pro- 
mises his Spirit to those who ask ; and 
thus invites and stimulates them to hold 
frequent intercourse with himself by prayer. 
He declares his holy anxiety for the ad- 
vancement of the truth ; and thus attracts 
their attention and regard to it. 

When the arguments of the gospel alarm 
or confirm or comfort the mind, the Holy 
Spirit is present; and the belief of this will 
unspeakably enforce the argument, —just 



162 

as Ave often find that the presence and voice 
of a friend will give weight to reasons which 
would be disregarded in his absence. If 
God thus offers us his spiritual presence 
and support through the medium of his 
truth, ought not we ever to carry about 
with us the remembrance and the love of 
the truth, that we may enjoy much of hij 
presence and support ? If he is so watchful 
over the progress of Christian principle in 
the hearts of men, ought not we also to be 
watchful, lest we grieve him, and lest we 
lose the precious benefits of his instruc* 
tions? As the gospel confines the influence 
of the Spirit to the truths contained in the 
written word, there is nothing to fear from 
fanaticism. The Holy Spirit does not now 
reveal any thing new, but impresses wliat 
is already revealed. 



163 



SECTION Y, 



It thus appears that tke gospel is a great 
storehouse of medicines for the moral dis- 
eases of the human mind. It contains ar« 
guments most correctly fitted to act power- 
fully on om' reason^ and on our feelings ; 
and these arguments are in themselves na- 
turally detructi ve of moral evil. They give 
a life and a. reality to the shadowy traits of 
natural religion ; they exhibit in a history 
of facts the abstract idea of the Divine 
character; and thus they render that cha- 
racter intelligible to the comprehension, 
and impressive on the heart of man. And 
is there no need for this medicine ? If it 
be admitted that wickedness and misery 
reign in this world to a frightful extent, 
and that nothing is more common than a 
strange carelessness about our Creator, and 
a decided spirit of hostility to the holiness 
©f his character, — if it be admitted that 
there prevails through the hearts of our spe- 



164 

cies, a proud selfishness of disposition which 
looks with indifference on the happiness or 
misery of others, unless where interest or 
vanity makes the exception, — and that 
whilst we profess to believe in a future 
state, we yet think and act as if our expec- 
tations and desires never stretched beyond 
this scene of transitory existence, — if all 
this be admitted, surely it must also be ad- 
mitted that some remedy is most desirable. 
And when we consider that the root of all 
these evils is in the heart, — that the very 
first principles of our moral nature are cor- 
rupted, — that the current of our wills is 
different from that of God's, — and that 
whilst this difference continues, we must be 
unhappy, or, at best, most insecm'e of our 
enjoyment, in whatever region our lot of 
existence is cast, — the necessity of some 
pow^erful health-restoring antidote will ap- 
pear still more imperious. And can we 
think it improbable, that a gracious God 
would meet this necessity, and reveal this 
antidote ? We have advanced a consider- 
able step when we have admitted this pro- 
bability. And when we see a system such 
as Christianity, asserting to itself a divine 



165 

original — tending most distinctly to the 
eradication of moral evil — harmonizing so 
beautifully with the most enlightened views 
of the character of God^ and adapted so 
wonderfully to the capacities of man, — does 
not the probability amount to an assurance 
that God has indeed made a movement to- 
wards man, and that such an antidote is 
indeed contained in the truth of the gos- 
pel ? 

There are few minds darkened or hard- 
ened to such a degree, that they cannot dis- 
cern between moral good and evil. Hence 
it hapi3ens that the pure morality of the 
gospel is generally talked of with j)raise ; 
and this is all : They admire the dial-plate 
of the timepiece, and the accurate division 
of its circle ; whilst they altogether pass 
over that nice adjustment of springs and 
weights which give its regulated movement 
to the index : They see not the Divine 
wisdom of the doctrines, which can alone 
embody that pure morality in the charac- 
ters of those who receive them. 

Exactly from the same inadvertence, it 
is sometimes asked, " \Vliy so urgent with 
these abstruse and mvsterious doctrines ? 



166 

It is, to be sure, very decent and proper to 
believe them : But the character is the 
great point ; and if that be reformed, we 
need not care much about the means." 
These persons do not consider, that though 
it may be comparatively easy to restrain 
the more violent eruptions of those dispo- 
sitions which are mischievous to society, it 
is no easy matter to plant in the heart the 
love of God, which is the first and greatest 
moral precept of Christianity. They do 
not consider that the character is in the 
mind ; and that this character must receive 
its denomination of good or bad, according 
as it capacitates its possessor for ha[ppiness 
or misery, when in direct contact with the 
character of God. The obedience of the 
will and of the heart is required ; and this 
implies in it a love for those holy principles 
in which the rule of duty is founded. A 
mere knowledge of duty, even when joined 
with a desire to fulfil it, can never inspire 
this love. We cannot love any thing, by 
simply endeavouring to love it : In order 
to this, we must see somewhat in it which 
naturally attracts our affections. What- 
ever this somewhat mav be, it constitutes 



167 

the doctrine which forms our characters on 
that particular subject. This law holds in 
all such operations of the mind ; but most 
conspicuously does it hold where the natu- 
ral bent of the inclination takes an oppo- 
site course, — as in the case of Christian 
duty. Duty must be i^resented to our 
minds, as associated with circumstances 
which will callforth our love, — as associated 
with the impulses of esteem, of gratitude, 
and interest, — else we can never love it. 
These circumstances constitute the Chris- 
tian doctrines ; and the reasonableness of con- 
tinuallv and closelv uroino; them, is founded 
on that law of the human mind which has 
been alluded to. It is not easy to cast out 
pride and self-conceit from the heart, nor 
to look upon the distresses of life with a 
cheerful acquiescence in that sovereign will 
which appoints them. It is not easy for a 
mind which has been much engrossed by 
its outward relations to the visible system 
with which it is connected, to receive and 
retain a practical impression, that there is, 
throughout the universe, one great spiritu- 
al and invisible dominion, to which all these 
lesser systems are subservient, and in which 



168 

they are embraced ; and that these are but 
schools and training seminaries in which 
immortal spirits are placed, that they may 
learn to know and to do the will of God. 
It is not a mere knowledge of duty which 
will enable us to resist the noxious impres- 
sions which are continually emanating from 
the objects of our senses, and from the re- 
lations of life — to disregard the pressing 
temptations of ambition or indolence, of 
avarice or sensuality — to expel those worldly 
anxieties which corrode the soul — and to 
inin the way of God's commandments, 
through difficulties and dangers, through 
evil report and good report. These things 
require a more energetic principle than the 
knowledge, even when conjoined with the 
approbation of what is right. The love of 
God must be rooted in the heart ; and this 
can only be accomplished by habitually 
viewing him in all the amiableness of his 
love and of his holiness. We must ac- 
quaint om'selves with God ; for it is the 
knowledge of his high character alone 
which can humble the pride of man, or 
throw light on the obscurities of his condi- 
tion here, or call forth that sentiment of 



169 

devoted love which will stamp the Divine 
image on his heart ; and it is a conformity 
to that character alone which can make us 
freemen of the miiverse, and secure to us 
tranquillity and joy in every region of crea- 
tion ; because this conformity of character 
is the living principle of union which j^er- 
vades and binds together the whole family 
of God, and capacitates the meanest of its 
members for partaking in the blessedness 
of their common Father. 

It should be observed, that when confor- 
mity to the Divine character is mentioned 
as the result of a belief of the Christian 
doctrine, it is very far from being meant 
that the conformity will be perfect, or that 
the character will be free from failings, or 
even considerable faults : All that is meant 
is, that the principle which will produce a 
perfect conformity is there. Thus we may 
say that a cMld has a conformity to his 
father's will, if he is strongly attached to 
him, and is sincerely anxious to please him, 
although levity or passion may occasionally 
carry him off from his duty. This is only 
the budding -time of Christianity; eternity 
is the clime in which the flower blows. If 

I 



iro 

it were perfected here, there would be no 
occasion for death, — this world would be 
heaven. 

When we talk of love towards an invi- 
sible being, we evidently mean love to the 
principles of his character. Love to God, 
therefore, implies a knov/ledge of his cha- 
racter ; and thus, if in our idea of God, we 
exclude his holiness and justice and purity, 
and then give our affection to the remain- 
ing fragments of his character, we do not 
in fact love God^ but a creature of our own 
imagination. It is a love of the whole, 
which can alone produce a resemblance of 
the whole ; and nothing short of this love 
can produce such a resemblance. If this 
world bounded our existence, there would 
be little occasion for these heavenly views ; 
because the order of society can in general 
be tolerably preserved by human laws, and 
the restraint of human opinion ; and for 
the few years which we have to pass here, 
this is sufficient : But if we are placed here 
to become fitted for eternity, we must know 
God, and love him, in order that we may 
have pleasure in his i3resence, and in the 
manifestations of his will. 



171 

There is an important part of the sub- 
ject still untouched, which is intimately 
connected with the principle of the prece- 
ding argument, and is most deserving of a 
full and minute consideration : I mean the 
harmony which subsists between the views 
of the Bible, and that system of events 
which is moving on around us. On this 
point, however, I shall only make a very 
few general observations. 

If we look on this world as a school in 
which the principles of the Bible are incul- 
cated and exercised, we shall find that the 
whole apparatus is admirably fitted for the 
purpose. As adventm'es of danger are 
adapted to exercise and confirm the prin- 
ciple of intrepidity, so the varied events of 
life are adapted to exercise and confirm the 
principles of the Christian character. The 
history of the world, and om' own experi- 
ence of it, present to us as it were a scene 
of shifting sand, without a single point on 
which we may reasonably rest the full 
weight of our hopes with perfect confidence. 
The gospel presents to us, on the other 
hand, the unchangeable character of God, 
and invites us to rest there. The object 



172 

of our hope becomes the mould of our char- 
acters ; and happiness consists in a charac- 
ter conformed to that of God. But there 
is a constant tendency in our minds to oc- 
cupy themselves with the uncertain and 
unsatisfactory things which are seen, to the 
exclusion of that secure good which is un- 
seen. Pain, disappointment, and death, 
are therefore sent to awaken us to reflection, 
— to warn us against reposing on a shadow, 
which will stamp on us its own corruptible 
and fleeting likeness, — and to invite us to 
fix our feet on that substantial rock which 
cannot fail. The happiness which God in- 
tends for men (according to the Bible) con- 
sists in a particular form of character; and 
that character can only be wrought out by 
trials and difficulties and aiflictions. If 
this were practically remembered, it would 
associate in our minds the sorrows of life 
with solid happiness and futm'e glory. 
Every event, of whatever description it be, 
would appear to us as an opportunity of 
exercising and strengthening some princi- 
ple which contains in itself the elements of 
happiness. This consideration would swal- 
low up, or at least very much abate, the de- 



173 

jection or exultation which the external 
form of the event is calculated to excite, 
and produce cheerful and composed acqui- 
escence in the appointments of Providence. 
'^ In every thing give thanks ; for this 
(event J whether prosperous or adverse) is 
the will of God in Christ Jesus towards 
you." It forms a part of that system of 
wisdom and love, of which the gift of Christ 
is the prominent feature and the great spe- 
cimen. Christ was given to bring men 
near to God,^ and every part of the system 
of Providence is ordered with the same de- 
sign. The Captain of our salvation was 
^* a man of sorrows, and acquainted with 
griefs ;" and whilst his wisdom appoints 
the m.edicinal sorrow, his heart sympathizes 
with the sufferer. His sufferings were not 
only endured in satisfaction of Divine jus- 
tice, — they also serve as a pattern of the 
way by which God leads those real sinners 
whom the sinless Saviour represented, unto 
holiness. When two of his disciples asked 
him for the chief places in his kingdom, 
the nature of which he had much mis- 
taken, he answered them, " Can ye drin]<: 
of the cup which I drink of, and can ye be 



174 

baptised with the baptism which I am bap- 
tised with?" — thus teaching, that as his 
own way to glory lay through sorrows, so 
theirs did also. His road and his glory 
were the patterns of theirs. Not that hap- 
piness and glory are given as an arbitrary 
premium for having suffered, but that the 
character which has been most exercised 
and refined by affliction contains a greater 
proportion of the constituent elements of 
happiness and gloiy. Neither are we to 
suppose that afflictions necessarily produce 
this character : Indeed, the effect in many 
cases is the very reverse. But afflictions 
are important opportunities of acquiring 
and growing in this character ; which, as 
they cannot be neglected without danger, 
so they cannot be improved according to the 
directions of the gospel without leading to 
a blessed result. The continual presence 
of God watching over the progress of his 
own work, and observing the spirit in which 
his creatm-es receive their appointed trials, 
is a great truth, which, if believed and re- 
membered, would both excite to cheerful 
and grateful action, and would comfort un- 
der any sorrow. 



175 

Every event affords opportunities of ex- 
ercising love to God or man, humility, or 
heavenly-mindedness ; and thus every event 
maybe made a step towards heaven: So that, 
if we were asked what sort of a theatre 
the principles of the gospel requu'ed for 
its effectual operation on a being like man, 
it would be impossible to devise any which 
would appear even to our reason so suitable 
as the world which we see around us. Were 
the gospel different, or were man different, 
another theatre might be better; but whilst 
the human heart remains as it is, we re- 
quire just such a process as that which is 
carried on here, for working the principles 
of the gospel into our moral constitutions. 
We know, besides, that the Christian cha- 
racter is adapted to the events of life ; be- 
cause it would produce happiness under 
those events, whatever they might be. 
Thus it appears, that the heart of man, 
the Bible, and the course of Providence, 
have a mutual adaptation to each other; 
and hence we may conclude, that they pro- 
ceed from the same source,— -we may con- 
clude, that the same God who made man, 
and encompassed him with the trials of 



176 

life, gave the Bible to instruct him how 
these trials might be made subservient to 
his eternal happiness. 

The world then is a theatre for exercising 
and strengthening principles. Its events 
operate on the moral seeds in the human 
mind, as the elements of nature, heat, 
moisture, and air, do on vegetable seeds. 
They develope their qualities^ they foster 
them into Hfe and energy, they bring forth 
into full display all their capacities of evil 
and good — but they do the same office to 
}X)isonous and useless seeds as to the most 
excellent. How careful then ought we to be 
that the moral principles of our minds 
should be of the right kind ! Poisonous 
plants are native to this soil, whilst the 
immortal seed of divine truth is an exotic, 
from a more genial clime. But if this 
course of discij)line be so necessary for the 
growth and conformation of the truth in 
the heart, then the gospel may appear to 
be exclusively addressed to those who have 
a series of years and exercises before them. 
In what form can it approach a deathbed ? 
What has the Bible to say to a man within 
an hour of eternity, who has either never 



177 

heard, or never attended, to the message of 
peace? In fact, it speaks the same language 
to him that it does to the youth just enter- 
ing on the career of life — the same glad 
tidings are proclaimed to sinners of all ages 
— of all conditions, and in all circumstan- 
ces ; '' This is the testimony that God hath 
given to us eternal life, and this life is in 
his Son." — Although happiness is neces- 
sarily connected with, or more properly is 
identical with, that holiness which the be- 
lief of the truth induces ; yet pardon and 
acceptance are not the consequences of a 
change of character, they are the free gift 
of God, through Jesus Christ ; and that 
they are so, enters into the very substance 
of that record which we are called on to 
believe, as the testimony of God. 

The judicial sentence against sin has 
been executed, and th^ honour of the di- 
vine law has been vindicated, by a deed of 
unutterable love, which claims from men 
the most grateful and reposing confidence 
in the reality of that mercy, and the in- 
violableness of that truth which, amidst 
the agonies of death, declared the ivork of 
reconciliation accomplished. The belief of 

I 2 



178 

this transaction, if full and perfect, would 
at once, and instantaneously, change the 
heart into a conformity with the will of 
God, which is the character of heaven, 
without which heaven could be no place of 
happiness. It is the weakness, the defi- 
ciency, and unsettledness of this belief, 
which makes the transformation of the 
heart, in general, so tardy a process. The 
tardiness does not, however, belong to the 
nature of the truth, but to the mode of its 
reception. And that Spirit, which is mighty 
in operation, can open the spiritual eye at 
the last moment to perceive the excellency 
of the Saviour, and thus cause the young 
germ of glory to burst forth at once into 
full and vigorous life. 

Very sudden and unexpected changes of 
character do sometimes take place in the 
history of this world's moralities ; and it 
may perhaps assist our conception, to ad- 
duce an example of this kind in illustration 
of that higher and more important change 
which we are at present considering. Mr. 
Foster, in his " Essay on Decision of Cha- 
racter," gives an account of a man who, 
from being a perfect prodigal, became all at 



179 

once a most beggarly miser. Whilst yet 
a boy he had come to the possession of a 
large fortune, and before he was of age he 
contrived to get rid of it by a course of the 
most profligate extravagance. After his 
last shilling was gone, his spirits fell, and 
he went out with the thought of putting 
an end to his life. Providence directed 
him to the top of an eminence, from which 
he could survey every acre which he had so 
foolishly squandered. Here he sat down, 
and in bitterness of heart contrasted his 
former splendour with his present wretch- 
edness. As he viewed his past life, the 
absurdity of his conduct appeared to him 
so glaring, and want appeared so frightful, 
that he was filled with a loathing for every 
thing like expense. He instantly formed 
the resolution of retracing his steps, and 
recovering his possessions. He descended 
the hill a thorough miser, and continued 
so to his death. The principle of penuri- 
ous and greedy saving had expelled its op- 
posite, and taken firm hold of his soul; his 
character was entirely changed, and his fu- 
ture life was only a development of the feel- 
ing acquired in that moment. 



180 

Now, though the change from one mode 
of selfishness to another, as in this instance, 
is a very different thing from the conversion 
of the heart to God ; yet as the change of 
character in both cases arises from a real 
change in the eornnction of the mind as to 
what is truly goody (from whatever sources 
of influence these convictions may proceed, 
whether earthly, as in the oiie case, or hea- 
venly, as in the other.) I consider myself 
entitled to use this analogy as an argument 
against those Avho either ridicule sudden 
conversions as absurd fables, or who con- 
fine such events to the miraculous period of 
Christianity. Is it rational to suppose, 
that a conviction of the love of God — of 
the vastness of eternity — of the glory of 
heaven — of the misery of hell, should be 
insufficient to produce an instantaneous 
change of no light nature, when we see so 
striking a change produced by the compara- 
tive prospect of v/ealth or poverty for a few 
uncertain years ? Shall we suppose that the 
Spirit of God hath less power than the 
spirit of Mammon? or. Does it belong only 
to things which pass away, to exert a sove- 
reignty over the springs of the mind ? And 



181 

are things which abide for ever^ to be alone 
considered as powerless and inefficient ? 
Could we imagine such a thing as a para- 
dise formisers under the government of a 
God, who giveth to all men liberally and 
upbraideth not, we might safely say, that 
if the young man, whose history we have 
been contemplating, had dropped down dead 
as he descended from the eminence which 
had witnessed his resolution, he would have 
been fit for a situation there. Nor would 
his former conduct have debarred him from 
the full enjoyment of its delights. So 
when the pardoning mercy of God is per- 
ceived in its glory and its beauty, it capa- 
citates the mind immediately, however dark 
and vile before, for that bliss which it so 
freely bestows, and girds and prepares the 
parting traveller for that everlasting king- 
dom of ovir Lord and Saviour, an entrance 
into which it so abundantly ministers, even 
though this may be the first look he has 
ever cast towards that happy land, and the 
last look he takes of aught until the body 
returns to the dust, and the spirit to hinx 
who gave it.. 



182 

The Bible never shuts out hope ; and in 
the example of the thief on the cross, it in- 
vites the dying sinner to look, that he may 
live for ever. But the Bible never en- 
courages the negligent, nor the presumptu- 
ous — it warns of the uncertainty of life and 
opportunity, and it exhibits the difficulty 
of overcoming settled habits of sin, under 
the similitude of the leopard changing his 
spots, or the Ethiopian his skin. In truth, 
every hour of delay makes this change 
more difficult and improbable, — because 
every hour is giving growth and strength 
to principles of an opposite description; 
he is grieving and despising the Holy Spi- 
rit, and is making a dark league with hell, 
which is gaining validity and ratification by 
every act in accordance with it ! 



183 



SECTION \^. 



I HAVE already explained two causes why- 
spiritual Christianity is so much opposed, 
and so rarely received with true cordiality 
amongst men. The first is, that its uncom- 
promising holiness of principle arms against 
it all the corruptions of our nature : The 
second is, that it rarely gains an attentive 
and full consideration, so as to be appre- 
hended in all its bearings, both in relation 
to the character of God and its influence 
on the heart of man. 

I shall now mention another circum- 
stance, nearly connected with the second of 
these causes, which often opposes the pro- 
gress of true religion. 

Many persons, in their speculations on 
Christianity, never get farther than the 
miracles which were wrought in confirma- 
tion of its divine authority. Those who re- 
ject them are called infidels, and those who 
admit them are called believers ; and yet, 



184 

after all, there may be veiy little difference 
between them. A belief of the miracles 
narrated in the New Testament, does not 
constitute the faith of a Christian. These 
miracles merely attest the authority of the 
messenger, — they are not themselves the 
message : They are like the patentee's name 
on a patent medicine, which only attests its 
genuineness, and refers to the character of 
its inventor, but does not add to its virtue. 
Now, if we had such a scientific acquaint- 
ance with the general properties of drugs, 
that from examining them we could pre- 
dict their effects^ then we should, in form- 
ing our judgment of a medicine, trust to 
our own analysis of its component parts, as 
well as to the inventor's name on the out- 
side ; and if the physician whose name it 
bore was a man of acknowledged eminence 
in his profession, we should be confirmed 
in our belief that it was really his inven- 
tion, and not the imposture of an empiric, 
by observing that the skill displayed in its 
coinposition was worthy of the character 
of its assigned author, and that it was well 
suited to the cases which it was proposed 
to remedy. And even though the name 



185 

should be somewhat soiled, so as to be with 
difficulty deciphered, yet if the skill were 
distinctly legible, we should not hesitate to 
attribute it to a man of science, nor should 
we scruple to use it ourselves, on its own 
evidence, if our circumstances recfaired such 
an application. 

If Alexander the Great could, by his 
own skill, have discovered, in the cup pre- 
sented to him by Philip, certain natural 
causes restorative of health, his cx)nfidence 
in the fidelity of his physician would have 
had a powerful auxiliary in his own know- 
ledge of the subject. The conviction of his 
friend's integrity was, in his case, however, 
sufficient by itself to overcome the suspi- 
cions of Parmenio, But if, by his own 
knowledge, he had detected any thing in 
the cup which appeared to him decidedly 
noxious, his confidence in his friend v/ould 
have only led him to the conclusion, that 
this cup was really not prepared by him, 
but that some traitor, unobserved by him, 
had infused a poisonous ingredient in it. 

In like manner, if we discern that har- 
mony in the Christian revelation which is 
the stamp of God upon it, we shall find 



186 

little difficulty in admitting that external 
evidence by which he attCvSted it to the 
world. And even though our opportunities 
or acquirements do not qualify us for fol- 
lowing the argument in support of miracles, 
yet if we are convinced that the remedial 
virtue of its doctrines suits the necessities 
and diseases of our nature, we will not he- 
sitate to assign it to the Great Physician 
of souls as its author, nor will we scruple 
to use it for our own spiritual health. 

No one who knows what God is, will re- 
fuse to receive a system of doctrines which 
he really believes was communicated by 
God : But then, no one in the right exer- 
cise of his reason, can, by any evidence, be 
brought to believe that what appears to him 
an absolute absurdity, did ever in truth 
come from God. At this point, the impor- 
tance of the internal evidence of revelation 
appears most conspicuous. If any intelli- 
gent man has, from hasty views of the sub- 
ject, received the impression that Christi- 
anity is an absurdity, or contains absurdi- 
ties, he is in a condition to examine the 
most perfect chain of evidence in its sup- 
port, with the pimple feeling of astonish- 



187 

ment at the ingenuity and the fallibility 
of the human understanding. On a man 
in this state of mind, all arguments drawn 
from external evidence are thrown away. 
The thing which he wants is to know that 
the subject is worth a demonstration ; and 
this can only be learned by the study of the 
Bible itself. Let him but give his unpre- 
judiced attention to this book, and he will 
discover that there is contained in it the de- 
velopment of a mighty scheme, admirably 
fitted for the accomplishment of a mighty 
purpose : He will discover that this pur- 
pose is no less than to impart to man the 
happiness of God, by conforming him to 
the character of God : And he will observe 
with delight and with astonishment, that 
the grand and simple scheme by which this 
is accomplished, exhibits a system of moral 
mechanism, which, by the laws of om' men- 
tal constitution, has a tendency to produce 
that character, as directly and necessarily 
as the belief of danger has to produce alarm, 
the belief of kindness to produce gratitude, 
or the belief of worth to produce esteem. He 
will discern, that this moral mechanism 
bears no mark of imposture or delusion, but 



188 

consists simply in a manifestation of the 
moral character of God, accommodated to 
the understandings and heafts of men. 
And lastly, he will perceive that this mani- 
festation only gives life and palpability to 
that vague though sublime idea of the Su- 
preme Being, which is suggested by en- 
lightened reason and conscience. 

When a man sees all this in the Bible, 
his sentiment will be, " I shall examine the 
evidence in support of the miraculous his- 
tory of this book ; and I cannot but hope 
to find it convincing : But even should I 
be left unsatisfied as to the continuity of 
the chain of evidence, yet of one thing I 
am persuaded, — it has probed the disease 
of the human heart to the bottom ; it has 
laid bare the source of its aberration from 
moral good and true happiness ; and it 
has propounded a remedy which cames 
in itself the proof of its efficiency. The 
cause seems w^orthy of the interposition of 
God : He did once certainly display his 
own direct and immediate agency in the 
creation of the world ; and shall I deem it 
inconsistent with his gracious character, 
that he has made another immediate rnani- 



189 

festation of himself in a work which had 
for its object the restoration of innumerable 
immortal spirits to that eternal happiness, 
from which, hy their moral depravation, 
they had excluded themselves ?" 

The external evidence is strong enough, 
if duly considered, to convince any man of 
any fact wliich he has not in the first place 
shut out from the common privilege of 
proof, by pronouncing it to be an impossi- 
bility. This idea of impossibility, when 
attached to the gospel, arises generally, as 
was before observed, from some mistaken 
notion respecting the matter containetl in 
it. A very few remarks may be sufficient 
to show that this is the case. Those who 
hold this, opinion do not mean to say abso- 
lutely that it is impossible to suppose, in 
consistency with reason, that God ever 
would make a direct manifestation of his 
own immediate agency in any case what- 
ever ; because this would be in the veiy 
face of their own general acknowledgments 
with regard to the creation of the world : 
They must therefore be understood to mean 
no more, than that, considering the object 
and structure of Christianitv, it is unrea- 



190 

sonable to suppose that it could be the sub- 
ject of a dkect interposition from Heaven. 
We are thus brought precisely to the ar- 
gument which it has been the intention of 
this Essay to illustrate. 

Now, if we suppose that it was one of 
the objects of the Creator, in the formation 
of the world, to impress upon his intelli- 
gent creatures an idea of his moral charac- 
ter — or, in other words, to teach them na- 
tural religion (and that it was one of his 
objects, we may presume, from its having 
in some measure had this effect), — it fol- 
lows, that a direct and immediate agency 
on the part of God, is closely connected 
with the design of manifesting his moral 
character to man ; and we may expect to 
meet these two things linked together in 
the system of God's government. If, 
therefore, the gospel contains a most vivid 
and impressive view of the Divine charac- 
ter, harmonizing with the revelation of na- 
ture, but far exceeding it in fulness and in 
power, are we to be sui'prised at an inter- 
position in its behalf of the same agency 
which was once before exhibited for a simi- 
lar purpose ? Thus, the object of the gos- 



191 

pel, and its adaptation to that object, be- 
come the great arguments for its truth ; 
and those who have not studied it in this 
relation, are not competent judges of the 
question. Indeed, if we take the truth of 
the gospel for granted, we must infer that 
this distinct and beautiful adaptation of 
its means to its end, was intended by its 
Divine Author as its chief evidence ; since 
he must have foreseen that not one out of 
a hundred who should ever hear of it could 
either have leisure or learning to weigh its 
external evidence. And this will explain 
a great deal of infidelity ; for freethinkers 
in general are not acquainted with the sub- 
stance of revelation ; and thus they neglect 
that very point in it on which God himself 
rested its probability, and by which he in- 
vites belief. 

There may be also, for any thing that 
the reasoners of this world know, cycles in 
the moral world as well as in the natural ; 
there may be certain moral conjunctui'es, 
which, by the divine appointment, call for 
a manifestation of direct agency from the 
great First Cause ; and in this view, a 
miraculous interposition, though posterior 



192 

to the creation, cannot be considered as an 
infringement of the original scheme of 
things, but as a part, and an essential part 
of it. When the world was less advanced 
in natural science than it is at present, a 
comet was considered an infringement on 
the original plan. And the period may 
-arrive, and will assuredly arrive, when the 
spirits of just men made perfect shall dis- 
cern as necessary a connexion between the 
character of God and all the obscurities 
of his moral government in our world, as 
the philosopher now discerns between the 
properties of matter and the movements of 
-the various bodies belonging to our plane- 
tary system. 

If the gospel really was a communica- 
tion from heaven, it was to be expected 
that it would be ushered into the world by 
a miraculous attestation. It might have 
been considered as giving a faithful de- 
lineation of the Divine character, although 
it had not been so attested ; but it could 
never have impressed so deep a conviction, 
nor have drawn such reverence from the 
minds of men, had it not been sanctioned 
by credentials which could come from none 



193 

other than the King of kings. As this 
conviction and this reverence were neces- 
sary to the accomplishment of its moral 
object, the miracles which produced them 
were also necessary. Under the name of 
miraculous attestations, I mean merely 
those miracles which were extrinsic to the 
gospel, and did not form an essential part 
of it ; for the greatest miracles of all — 
namely, the conception, resurrection, and 
ascension of our Lord-— constitute the very 
substance of the Divine communication, 
and are essential to the developement of 
that Divine character which gives to the 
gospel its whole importance. 

The belief of the miraculous attestation 
of the gospel, then, is just so far useful as 
it excites our reverence for, and fixes our 
attention on the truth contained in the 
gospel. All the promises of the gospel are 
to faith in the gospel, and to those moral 
qualities which faith produces ; and we can- 
not believe that which we do not under- 
stand. We may believe that there is more 
in a thing than we can understand ; or we 
may believe a fact, the causes or modes of 
which we do not understand; but om- ac- 

K 



194 

tual belief is necessarily limited by our ac- 
tual understanding. Thus, we understand 
what we say when we profess our belief 
that God became man, although we do not 
vmderstand Iioilk This how^ therefore, is not 
the subject of belief; because it is not the 
subject of understanding. We, however, 
understand wJiy^ — namely, that sinners 
might be saved, and the Divine character 
made level to om' capacities ; and therefore 
this is a subject of belief. In fact, we can 
as easily remember a thing which we never 
knew, as believe a thing that we do not 
understand. In order, then, to believe the 
gospel, we must understand it ; and in or- 
der to understand it, we must give it ovu' 
serious attention. An admission of the 
truth of its miraculous attestation, unac- 
companied with a knowledge of its princi- 
ples, serves no other purpose than to give 
a most mom'nful example of the extreme 
levity of the human mind. It is an ac- 
knowledgment that the Almighty took 
such a fatherly interest in the affairs of 
men, that he made a direct manifesta- 
tion of himself in this world, for their 
instruction ; and yet they feel no concern 



195 

upon the subject of this instruction. Never- 
theless, they say, and perhaps think, that 
they believe the gospel. One of the mira- 
culous appearances connected with oiu' 
Saviour's ministry places this matter in a 
very clear light. When on the Mount of 
Transfiguration, he for a short time antici- 
pated the celestial glory in the presence of 
three of his disciples, a voice came from 
Heaven saying, *' This is my beloved Son ; 
hear ye himr He was sent to tell men 
something which they did not know. Those 
therefore, who believed the reality of this 
miraculous appearance, and yet did not 
listen to what he taught, rejected him on 
the very ground on which it was of prime 
importance that they should receive him. 

The regeneration of the character is the 
grand object ; and this can only be affect- 
ed by the pressure of the truth upon the 
mind. Our knowledge of this truth must 
be accurate, in order that the image im- 
pressed upon the heart may be correct ; 
but we must also know it in all the awful- 
ness of its authority, in order that the im- 
pression may be deep and lasting. Its mo- 
tives must be ever operating on us — its re- 



196 

presentations ever recurring to us — its hope? 
ever animating us. This will not relax, 
but rather increase om' diligence in the 
business of life. When we are engaged 
in the service of a friend, do we find that 
the thought of that friend and of his kind- 
ness retards our exertions? — No. And 
when we consider all the business of life 
as work appointed to us by our Father, 
we shall be diligent in it for his sake. In 
fact, however clearly we may be able to 
state the subject, and however strenuous 
we may be in all the orthodoxy of its de- 
fence, there must be some flaw in our view 
of it, if it remains only a casual or an un- 
influential visitor of our hearts. Its in- 
terests are continually pressing: eternity 
is every moment coming nearer ; and our 
characters are hourly assuming a form more 
decidedly connected with the extreme of 
happiness or misery. In such circum- 
stancjes, trifling is madness. The profes- 
sed infidel is a reasonable man in compari- 
son with him who admits the Divine in- 
spiration of the gospel, and yet makes it a 
secondary object of his solicitude. 

The Monarch of the Universe has pro- 



197 

claimed a general amnesty of rebellion^ 
whether we give or withhold our belief or 
our attention ; and if an amnesty were all 
that we needed, our belief or our attention 
would probably never have been required. 
Our notions of pardon and punishment are 
taken from our experience of human laws. 
We are in the habit of considering punish- 
ment and transgression as two distinct and 
separate things, which have been joined 
together by authority, and pardon as no- 
thing more than the dissolution of this 
arbitary connexion. And so it is amongst 
men ; but so it is not in the world of spirits. 
Sin and punishment there are one thing. 
Sin is a disease of the mind which neces- 
sarily occasions misery ; and therefore the 
pardon of sin, unless it be accompanied 
with some remedy for this disease, cannot 
relieve from misery. 

This remedy, as I have endeavoured to 
explain, consists in the attractive and sanc- 
tifying influence of the Divine character 
manifested in Jesus Christ. Pardon is 
preached through him, and those who real- 
ly believe are healed ; for this belief im- 
plants in the heart the love of God and 



198 

the love of man, which is only another 
name for spiritual health. Carelessness, 
then, comes to the same thing as a decided 
infidelity. It matters little in what parti- 
ticular way, or on what particular grounds 
we put the gospel from us. If we do put 
it from us either by inattention or rejec- 
tion, we lose all the benefits which it is 
fitted to bestow ; whilst, on the other hand, 
he who does receive it, receives along with 
it all those benefits, whether his belief has 
originated from the external evidence, or 
simply from the conviction of guilt and 
the desire of pardon, and the discovery 
that the gospel meets his necessities as a 
weak and sinful creature, — jvist as a voy- 
ager gains all the advantage of the informa- 
tion contained in his chart, whatever the 
evidence may have been on which he at 
first received it. 

This last illustration may explain to us 
why God should have declared faith to be 
the channel of all his mercies to his intelli- 
gent creatures. The chart is useless to the 
voyager, unless he believes that it is really 
a description of the ocean which he has to 
pass, with all its boundaries and rocks and 



199 

shoals and currents ; and the gospel is use- 
less to man, unless he believes it to be a 
description of the character and will of that 
Great Being on whom his eternal interests 
depend. Besides, the nature of the gospel 
required such a reception in another point 
of view: It was necessary to its very object 
that its blessings^should be distinctly mark- 
ed out to be of free and unmerited bounty. 
When we speak of benefits freely bestowed, 
we say of them, " You may have them by 
asking for them," — distinguishing them by 
this mode of expression as gifts, from those 
things for which we must give a price. 
Precisely the same idea is conveyed by the 
gospel declaration, '' Believe and ye shall 
be saved." ^Vhen it is asked. How am I to 
obtain God's mercy? the gospel answers, 
that " God has akeady declared himself 
reconciled through Jesus Christ; so you 
may have it by believing it." Faith, there- 
fore, according to the gospel scheme, both 
marks the freeness of God's mercy, and is 
the channel through which that mercy ope- 
rates on the character. 

It has been my object, throughout this 
Essay, to draw the attention of the reader 



200 

to the internal structure of the religion of 
the Bible, — first, because I am convinced 
that no man in the unfettered exercise of 
his understanding can fully and cordially 
acquiesce in its pretensions to Divine in- 
spiration, until he sees in its substance that 
which accords both with the character of 
God and Avith the wants of man ; and se- 
condly, because any admission of its Divine 
original, if unaccompanied with a know- 
ledge of its principles, is absolutely useless. 
We generally find, that the objections 
which are urged by sceptics against the in- 
spiration of the Bible, are founded on some 
apparent improbability in the detached parts 
of the system. These objections are often 
repelled by the defenders of Christianity as 
irrelevant ; and the objectors are referred 
to the unbroken and well-supported line of 
testimony in confirmation of its miraculous 
history. This may be a silencing argument, 
but it will not be a convincing one. The 
true way of answering such objections, when 
seriously and honestly made, seems to me 
to consist in showing the relation which 
these detached parts bear to the other 
parts, and then in explaining the harmony 



201 

and efficiency of the whole system. ^\lien 
a man sees the fuhiess and beauty of this 
harmony, he ^yill beheve that the system of 
Christianity is in truth the plan of the Di- 
vine goyernment, whether it has actually 
been revealed in a miraculous way or not ; 
and if he finds that the fact of its being in- 
spired really enters into the substance of 
the system, and is necessary to it. he will 
be disposed to believe that too. 

Let us suppose a man brought from the 
heart of Africa, perfectly ignorant of the 
discoveries of Europe, but of excellent 
parts : Let him be fully instructed in all 
the mathematical and physical knowledge 
connected with the Newtonian philosophy, 
but v/ithout having the system of astrono- 
my communicated to him ; and then let us 
suppose that his instructor should announce 
to him that most perfect and most beauti- 
ful of human discoveries under the name 
of a direct revelation from Heaven. The 
simplicity and the grandeur of the theory 
would fill his imagination, and fasten his 
attention ; and as he advanced in the more 
minute consideration of all its bearings, the 
full and accurate agreement of its principles 



202 

with all the phenomena of the heavenly 
bodies, would force on his mind a convic- 
tion of its truth. He may then be supposed 
to say to his instructor, " I believe that you 
have unfolded to me the true system of the 
material universe, whether you are really 
under the influence of inspiration or not. 
Indeed, the most thorough belief in your 
pretensions could scarce add an iota to my 
conviction of the truth of your demonstra- 
tion. I see a consistency in the thing it- 
self, which excludes doubting." 

We judge of the probability or impro- 
bability of a nev/ idea, by comparing it with 
those things which we are already acquaint- 
ed with, and observing how it fits in with 
them. The complete fitting-in of the astro- 
nomical system with facts already observed, 
is the ground of om' belief in its truth. 
The materials of the system lie around us 
in the appearances of nature ; and we are 
delighted to find an intelligible principle 
which will connect them all. If a person 
has paid no attention to these appearances, 
he will feel proportionally little interest in 
the discovery of a connecting principle ; be- 
cause he has not felt that uneasiness of 



203 

mind which is produced by the observation 
of unexplained facts. A certain degree of 
education is necessary to excite this uneasy 
curiosity ; and therefore both its pains and 
its pleasures are confined to a very limited 
number. But when the facts to be explain- 
ed are connected with a deep and universal 
moral interest, and when the most ordinary 
powers of thinking are equal to the intel- 
lectual exertion which is required, there 
can be no limitation either of the number 
of the students or of the intensity of the 
excitement, except in consequence of the 
most lamentable carelessness. 

The materials of the Christian system 
lie thick about us. They consist in the 
feelings of our own hearts, in the history of 
ourselves and of our species, and in the in- 
timations which we have of God from his 
works and ways, and the judgments and 
anticipations of conscience. We feel that 
we are not unconcerned spectators of these 
things. We are siu'e, that if there be a 
principle which can explain and connect 
them all together, it must be a most im- 
portant one for us ; it must determine our 
everlasting destiny. It is evident that this 



204 

)naster-principle can exist nowhere but in 
the character of God. He is the universal 
Ruler, and he rules according to the prin- 
ciples of his own character. The Christian 
system accordingly consists in a develop- 
}nent of the Divine character ; and as the 
object of this development is a practical and 
moral one, it does not linger long to gratify 
a speculative curiosity, but hastens forward 
to answer that most interesting of all in- 
quiries, " ^^^hat is the road to permanent 
happiness ?" This question holds the same 
rank in moral questions, and entei-s as deep- 
ly into the mystery of God's spiritual go- 
vernment, as the corresponding question, 
"^ ^^Tiat law regulates and retains a planet 
in its orbit ?" does in the natm-al world. 

If a planet had a soul and a power of 
choice, and if, by v/andering from its bright 
path, it incurred the same pei-plexities and 
difficulties and dangers that man does when 
he strays from God, — and if the laws which 
directed its motions were addi'essecl to its 
mind, and not, as impulses, on its material 
substance, — its inquiry, after it had left its 
course, would also be, " How shall I regain 
my orbit of peace and of glory ?" The an- 



205 

swer to tiiis question would evidently con- 
tain in it the whole philosophy of astrono- 
my, as far as the order of its system was 
concerned. In like manner, the answer to 
the inquiry after spiritual and permanent 
happiness, embraces all the principles of the 
Divine government as far as man is con- 
cerned. 

The answer to the planet would contain 
a description of its proper curve : But this 
is not enough, — the method of regaining it 
and continuing in it must be also explained. 
We may suppose it to be thus addressed, — 
" Keep your eye and yoiu' thoughts fixed 
on that bright luminary, to whose generous 
influences you owe so many blessings. Your 
order, your splendour, your fertility, all pro- 
ceed from your relation to him. When that 
relation is infringed, these blessings disap- 
pear. Your experience tells you this. Re- 
trace, then, your steps, by recalling to your 
grateful remembrance his rich and liberal 
kindness. This grateful and dependent af- 
fection is the golden chain which binds you 
to yoiu' orbit of peace and of glory." 

To man's inquiry after permanent hap- 
piness, an answer is given to the same pur- 



206 

pose. The path of duty and of happiness is 
marked out in such precepts as the follow- 
ing : "^ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
with all thine heart and soul and mind 
and strength, and thy neighbour as thy- 
self ;'' " Glorify God in your bodies and 
your spirits, which are God's ;" '' Be not 
conformed to this world, but be ye trans- 
formed by the renewing of yom- minds, 
that ye may prove what is that good and 
acceptable and perfect will of God." But 
this is not enough. Man has wandered 
from this good path, and in wandering 
from it, he has come under the influence of 
base attractions, which draw away his will 
in opposition to the testimony of his con- 
science, and the acknowledgments of his un- 
derstanding. To overcome these mislead- 
ing influences, the gospel introduces an at- 
tracting principle, most holy in its natm'e 
and most constraining in its power. It re- 
veals to him the full danger of his wander- 
ings, but it reveals also to him the full 
mercy and loveliness of his God. It de- 
clares that God so loved the world, as to 
give his only-begotten Son, that whosoever 
believeth in Him should not perish, but 



^7 

have everlasting life — and that Christ hath 
redeemed us from the condemnation of the 
law, having endured that condemnation in 
our stead — and that, on as many as receive 
Him, he confers the privilege of being the 
sons of God. This is the great truth, for 
the manifestation and development of 
which this world was created, and is pre- 
served — and this it is, which, when per- 
ceived in all its vast reality by the light of 
the Holy Spirit, transforms the slave of 
sin into a child of God, and an heir of im- 
mortal glory. And any one who humbly 
and candidly considers the Divine charac- 
ter of love and of holiness which is deve- 
loped in the history of Jesus Christ, will 
discover in it the true centre of moral gra- 
vitation — the Sun of Righteousness, set in 
the heavens to di'ive darkness and chaos 
from our spiritual system, and by its sweet 
and powerful influence to attract the wan- 
dering affections of men into an orbit, ap- 
pointed by the will and illumined by the 
favour of God. According to this system, 
a grateful and humble affection towards 
God, founded on a knowledge of his true 
character, is the principle of order and of 



208 

happiness in the moral world. The confu- 
sion and the restlessness v/hich we see in 
the world, and which we often experience 
in our own breasts, give abundant testi- 
mony to the truth of this projDOsition in its 
negative form. Ignorance and indifference 
about the character of God generally pre- 
vail ; we love the creatm-e more than the 
Creator — the gifts more than the giver — 
our own inclinations more than his will. 
The wind is sown, and can we wonder that 
the whirlwind is reaped ? And is it not 
evident to reason, that an entire conformity 
to the Ruling ^Vill of the universe, is only 
another name for order and happiness ? and 
can this conformity be produced in any ra- 
tional being, except by a knowledge and a 
love of that will ? The character of God is 
manifested in the history of Jesus Christ, 
for our knowledge and for om- love. This 
manifestation harmonizes with the sugges- 
tions of reason and conscience on the sub- 
ject : Nay more, it gathers them up, as 
they lie before the wind in detached frag- 
ments ; it supplies their deficiencies, and 
unites them all in one glorious fabric of 
perfect symmetry and beauty. It meets 



209 

the heart of man in all its capacities and 
affections ; its appeal is exactly shaped for 
the elementary principles of om' nature. 
The glorious truth which it reveals is adapt- 
ed to every mind; it is intelligible to a 
child, and yet will dilate the understanding 
of an angeh As the understanding en- 
larges, this truth still grows upon it, and 
must for ever grow upon it, because it is 
the image of the infinite God. Yet, great 
as it is, it is fitted to produce its effect, 
wherever it is received, however limited 
the capacity into which it enters. The 
principle of the wedge operates as fully at 
the first stroke as at any subsequent one. 
although the effect is not so apparent. 

I have endeavoured, in the course of 
these remarks, to give an idea of the mode 
which seems to me best fitted for illustrat- 
ing the harmony which subsists between 
the Christian system and the mass of moral 
facts which lie without us and within us. 
I have endeavom-ed to explain the great- 
ness of its object, and its natural fitness 
for the accomplishment of that object. He 
who has not given his earnest attention to 



210 

these things^, may call himself an infidel, 
or a believer, but he has yet to learn what 
that doctrine is which he rejects or admits. 
There is nothing new in this cm^sory 
sketch of Christian doctrines. Indeed, I 
should conceive a proof of novelty on such 
a subject as tantamount to a proof of error. 
But I think that the view here taken has 
not been sufficiently pressed as an argu- 
ment in favoiu' of the credibility of revela- 
tion ; for, although an indirect kind of 
evidence in itself, it seems well fitted for 
preparing and disposing an imbeliever to 
examine with candour the more direct 
proof which arises from historical testimony. 
And it may also perform the no less im- 
portant office of infusing into a nominal 
Christian, a doubt as to his sincerity in 
the profession of a faith which has per- 
haps neither made a distinct impression 
on his understanding, nor touched his 
heart, nor affected his character. 

THE END. 



C. S. Lizars, Pr inter » 
Society, 



THEOLOGICAL WORKS, 

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AN 



ESSAY ON FAITH. 



AN 



ESSAY 

ON FAITH. 



BY 

THOMAS ERSKINE,EsQ. Advocate; 

AUTHOR OF " REMARKS OX THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE FOR 
THE TRUTH OF REVEALED RELIGION." 



THIRD EDITION, 

WITH CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS. 



EDINBURGH: 
WAUGH AND INNES, HUNTER-SQUARE. 



M.DCCC.XXIII. 



Printed by Balfour & Clark, 

Edinburgh, 1823. 



CO 

ST 

-4 



AN 



ESSAY ON FAITH. 



We read in the Scriptures, " that a man 
" is justified by faith, without the deeds of 
*^ the law," Rom. iii. 18. — that '' by grace 
" are ye saved through faith," Eph. ii. 8. — 
that the glory of the Gospel consists in this, 
that " God's method of justification by faith 
" is revealed in it," Rom. i, 17. — and that 
" he that believeth on the Son hath ever- 
'^ lasting life, and he that believeth not the 
'' Son shall not see life," St. John iii. 36. 
And these texts do not appear as insulated 
observations, nor are they liable to be ex- 
plained away as figurative expressions, or 
strong language ; they constitute most im- 
portant parts in the reasoning of the sacred 
writers ; and the general tone of the con- 
text is that of sober and unimpassioned ar- 
gument. We ought not then to wonder, 
A3 



that there should be a very lively and in- 
quisitive interest excited in the minds of 
those who receive the Scriptures as the in- 
spired word of God, about the precise mean- 
ing of the term Jaith. Neither ought we 
to wonder that many different meanings 
have been assigned to it. For as faith on 
the one hand, and unbelief on the other, 
describe states of mind, which appear often 
to be absolutely involuntary, being the ad- 
mission of evidence which it is impossible 
to reject, or the rejection of evidence which 
it is impossible to admit ; men have found 
it difficult to reconcile their minds to the 
association of eternal happiness with the 
one, and of eternal misery with the other, 
as their just and equitable consequences. 
To lessen this difficulty, or to remove it, 
some have supposed that faith was a sym- 
bolical expression for the whole regenerate 
character, or all virtues ; and that unbelief 
was a symbolical expression for the unre- 
generate character, or all vices. Others have 
supposed that faith is one of two necessary 
conditions of pardon, the other condition be- 
ing obedience, the absence of either of which 
made the other nugatory, and effectually 



excluded from the Divine favour. Others, 
clearly perceiving that these views could 
not be reconciled, either with the general 
tenor of the Bible, or with many most de- 
cided and unequivocal texts, have talked 
disparagingly of holiness and obedience, and 
have treated of faith as if it were the chan- 
nel of justification, merely in virtue of an 
arbitrary appointment of God, and without 
any reference to its moral effect on the 
human character. 

The observations which follow, relate, 

I. To some of the sources of the many 
errors which have prevailed on the subject 
of faith- 

II. To the nature of faith in general, and 
of Christian faith in particular. 

III. To the mode in which man is address- 
ed, and faith called into action by the Gospel. 

IV. To the mutual dependance of faith 
and sanctification on each other for growth. 

V. To the design of faith. 

VI. To the design of faith considered as 
a test of the correctness of faith. 

VII . To simplicity of faith, and to the 
connection between faith and justification. 

A 4 



8 



SECTION I. 

SOME OF THE SOURCES OF THE MANY 
ERRORS WHICH HAVE PREVAILED ON 
THE SUBJECT OF FAITH. 

Doubtless the chief source of error on 
the subject of faith, is the corruption of the 
heart. There is a great fallacy in suppos- 
ing that faith is an involuntary act. The 
Bible speaks of faith as a duty, and of un- 
belief as a sin. There are some who object 
to this language, and prefer calling faith a 
privilege ; and truly it is a most unspeaka- 
ble privilege. But if " he who believes not 
" is condemned akeady, because he believ- 
" eth not in the name of the only begotten 
" Son of God," surely unbelief is a sin, and 
it is om' duty to avoid this sin ; John iii. 18. 
vi. 28, 29. According to the Bible, then, 
faith is an act of the will, for duty and sin 
imply the action of the will. And our rea- 
son speaks in the same way. If the belief 
of any fact naturally and imperatively calls 
for the performance of a particular duty. 



who is the man that will most easily be 
persuaded of the truth of the fact? He 
who takes a pleasure in the performance of 
the duty, or he who detests it ? Have not 
love and fear, and indolence and interest, 
very considerable influence over our belief ? 
He who knew what was in man, after declar- 
ing, that '' he who believeth on the Son is 
" not condemned, but he that believeth not 
" is condemned already," adds immediately, 
" and this is the condemnation, that light is 
" come into the world, and men have loved 
'^ darkness rather than light, because their 
" deeds were evil ;" thus most explicitly re- 
ferring belief and unbelief to the state of 
the heart and affections. But though the 
sin of the heart is the root of all errors in 
religion, yet it is of importance to consider 
those errors separately, that we may know 
them, and be prepared for them ; for it is 
by blinding our understandings that the 
deceitfulness of the heart operates. 

In the Bible, Christianity is given us as 
a whole ; but men are apt to take confined 
and partial views of it. Faith is connected 
in Scripture, both with the pardon of sin 
and with the deliverance from the power of 
A 5 



10 



sin ; 01% in other words, with justification 
and sanctification, according to common lan- 
guage. In its connection with justification, 
it is opposed to merit, and desert, and work 
of every description ; " It was by faith that 
" it might be by grace, or gratuitous, or 
" for nothing," Rom. iv. 16. Some ex- 
clusively take this view, which in itself is 
correct, but which does not embrace the 
whole truth. Faith, as connected with sane- 
tification, " purifieth the heart," " work- 
" eth by love," and " overcometh the 
'' world," and produces every thing which 
is excellent and holy, as may be seen in that 
bright roll which is given in Heb. xi. Some 
again are so engrossed with this view of 
the subject, that they lose sight of the for- 
mer. This is a fruitful source of error. 
In order to understand thoroughly the se- 
parate parts of a whole, we must under- 
stand their connection with the other parts, 
and their specific purpose in relation to the 
whole. 

The first of the two classes that have 
been described, call the other legalists^ or 
persons who depend on their own perform- 
ances for acceptance with God. And they 



11 

are perhaps right in this accusation ; — but 
they are not aware that they are very pos- 
sibly guilty of the same offence. They are 
almost unconsciously very apt to think, that 
they have paid faith as the price of God's 
favour. The man who considers faith mere- 
ly as the channel by which the Divine tes- 
timony concerning pardon through the blood 
of the Lamb is conveyed to his understand- 
ing, and operates on his heart, cannot look 
on faith as a work, because he views it mere- 
ly as the inlet by which spiritual light en- 
ters his soul, ^^^lilst he who considers the 
declaration, " he that believeth shall be 
^' saved," as expressing the arbitrary con- 
dition on which pardon will be bestowed, 
without referring to its natural effects on 
the character, requires to be very much on 
his guard indeed against a dependance on 
his faith as a meritorious act. He will not 
to be sure speak of it in this way, but he 
runs great risk of feeling about it in this 
way. And it is not unworthy of observa- 
tion, that those, whose statements in this 
respect have been the highest, have often, in 
their controversies, assumed towards their 
A 6 



12 



opponents a tone of bitterness and contempt^ 
most unbecoming the Christian character. 
This looks like self-righteousness, and seems 
to mark that they are trusting rather in 
their own faith, which elevates them, than 
in the cross of Christ, which would humble 
them. 

In like manner, the second of these classes 
charge the other with antinomianism, though 
they themselves are liable to the same charge. 
They hate the name of antinomianism, and 
they wish to escape from it, as far as pos- 
sible, but they mistake the way. They are 
so much occupied with the Christian cha- 
racter, that they forget the doctrine of free 
grace, by the influence of which doctrine 
alone, that character can be formed. They 
endeavour to become holy by sheer effort. 
Now this is impossible. They can never 
love God by merely trying to love him, nor 
can they hate sin by merely trying to hate 
it. The belief of the love of God to sin- 
ners — and of the evil of sin — as manifested 
in the cross of Christ, can alone accomplish 
this change within them. Those who sub- 
stitute effort for the Gospel, preach antino- 
mianism; because they preach a doctrine 



IS 



which can never, in the nature of thiiigg^ 
lead to the fulfilment of the law. 

I shall have occasion to illustrate these 
topics farther in the conclusion of the Es- 
say ; and, in the meantime, let us consider 
how, and to what extent, the introduction 
of scholastic metaphysics into religion has 
obscured and perplexed the subject of faith. 

Theological writers have distinguished 
and described different kinds of faith, as 
speculative and practical, — historical, sav- 
ing and realizing faith. It would be of 
little consequence what names we gave to 
faith, or to any thing else, provided these 
names did not interfere with the distinct- 
ness of our ideas of the things to which they 
are attached ; but as we must be sensible 
that they do very much interfere with these 
ideas, we ought to be on our guard against 
any false impressions which may be receiv- 
ed from an incorrect use of them. Is it 
not evident that this way of speaking has 
a natural tendency to draw the attention 
away from the thing to he helieved^ and to 
engage it in a fruitless examination of the 
mental operation of helieving ? And, ac- 
cordingly, is it not true, that we see and 



14 

hear of more anxiety amongst religious 
people, about their faith being of the right 
kind, than about their believing the right 
things? A sincere man, who has never 
questioned the Divine authority of the Scrip- 
ture, and who can converse and reason well 
on its doctrines, yet finds perhaps that the 
state of his mind and the tenor of his life 
do not agree with the Scripture rule. He 
is very sensible that there is an error some- 
where, but instead of suspecting that there 
is something in the very essentials of Christ- 
ian doctrine which he has never yet under- 
stood thoroughly, the probability is that he, 
and his advisers, if he ask advice, come to 
the conclusion that his faith is of a wrong 
kind, that it is speculative or historical, and 
not true saving faith. Of com^se this con- 
clusion sends him not to the study of the 
Bible, but to the investigation of his own 
feelings, or rather of the laws of his own 
mind. He leaves that truth which God has 
revealed and blessed as the medicine of our 
natures, and bewilders himself in a meta- 
physical labyrinth. 

The Bible is throughout a practical book, 
and never, in all the multitude of cases 



15 



which it sets before us for our instruction^ 
does it suppose it possible for a man to be 
ignorant, or in doubt whether he really be- 
lieves or not. It speaks indeed of faith un- 
feigned, in opposition to a hypocritical pre- 
tence — and it speaks of a dead faith when 
it denies the existence of faith altogether. 
We deny the existence of benevolence, ar- 
gues the Apostle, when fair words are given 
instead of good offices ; even so we may de- 
ny the existence of faith when it produces 
no fruit, and merely vents itself in profes- 
sions, — in such a case faith is departed, it 
is no more, it is dead — there is a carcass to 
be sure to be seen, but the spirit is gone. 
In the place to which I am now referring, 
vh. in the second chapter of James, the 
writer gives another account of dead faiths 
which is very important ; it occurs in the 
19th verse. This faith he calls dead, be- 
cause it relates to an object which, when 
taken alone, can produce no effect upon our 
minds : " Thou believest that there is one 
^' God, thou dost well, the devils also be- 
" lieve and tremble." Now the mere be- 
lief of the tmity of the godhead, however 
important when connected with other truths, 
cannot of itself make a man either better 



16 



or happier. What feeling or act is there 
which springs directly from a belief of the 
unity of the godhead ? When connected 
with other things, it does produce effects ; 
thus the devils connect it with a belief in 
the avenging justice of God, and hence they 
tremble, because there is no other God, no 
other power to appeal to. Christians con- 
nect it with a belief in the love of God 
through the Redeemer, and hence they have 
good hope, for none can pluck them out of 
His hands. But the abstract belief that 
there is one God, leads to nothing*. 

Since the Epistle of St. James has been 
thus introduced, it may appear proper that 
some explanation should be given of the ap- 
parent discrepancy between his doctrine and 
that of St. Paul. The two Apostles are 
speaking evidently of two different things 
— St. Paul is speaking of the way in which 



* " The doctrine of the Divine Unity alone does not 
humble the mind^ restrain the passions, and reform the 
life, for no one is more deeply impressed with the necessity 
of giving the Hindoos the light of Christianity than Ram- 
mohun Roy, who has had the best opportunities of know- 
ing the effect which their conversion from Idolatry to Uni- 
tarian Hindooism has produced." — Monthly Repository of 
Theology for February f 1823. 



17 

a sinner may approach God — St. James is 
speaking of the way in which the Christian 
character is confirmed by the various events 
and duties of life, and in which it manifests 
its reality to the conviction of men. When 
Paul says that '' a man is justified by faith 
" without works," he means that a man re- 
ceives pardon through the channel of faith 
without any good desert of his own. When 
James says that " a man is justified by 
" works, and not by faith only," he means 
that the character is perfected, not by a 
principle which lies inert in the mind, but 
by a principle which exercises itself in ac- 
tion. The use made of the instance of Abra- 
ham seems to favour this interpretation. 
" Was not Abraham our father justified by 
" works, when he had offered up Isaac his 
" son upon the altar ? Seest thou how faith 
*^ wrought with his works, and by works 
" was faith made perfect ?" The word S/- 
xa/oy/^a/, I am justified or pardoned, as it 
generally denotes, may signify, I am made, 
or I become a just or good man ; and it 
does occur in this sense in the version of the 
Old Testament by the Seventy. I am much 
disposed to be of opinion that this is the 
proper meaning of it, in the passage before 



18 



us. The general text or subject of the two 
first chapters is contained in the 2d and 3d 
verses of the first chapter: " Brethren, count 
" it all joy when you fall into divers trials, 
" knowing this, that the trial of your faith 
" worketh constancy, or giveth it (your 
^^ faith) consistency and endurance." The 
Apostle enlarges upon this text : he sets be- 
fore us the two great springs of character, 
— the knowledge of God, " or the word of 
'^ truth" received by faith ; and self-will, or 
self-seeking, or lust, as our translators have 
rendered it. The tendency of the first is to 
conform man to the will of God, and to in- 
troduce him into the enjoyment of eternal 
life, and to make him " a kind of first fruits 
of the creation :" the tendency of the latter 
is to conceive sin, which brings forth death. 
When we are not acting under the influ- 
ence of the first, we must be acting under 
the influence of the other. And that prin- 
ciple, under the influence of which we act, 
gains fresh strength and confirmation by 
that act. We never stand still ; — our rela- 
tion to heaven or hell is becoming hourly 
more and more established. The character 
thus advances one way or another, and we 
are ripening either for the harvest of eter- 



19 



nal life or of eternal misery continually ; 
because either the principle of faith or the 
principle of self-will is exercised by every 
thought, or word, or deed, that proceeds 
from us. This is certainly a very import- 
ant view of the subject, whether it be the 
right view of the passage or not ; but I 
think that the context favours it. Thus the 
reference to Abraham would have this 
meaning : " Did the character of our father 
" Abraham advance so, that he became the 
" friend of God, by sitting still and allowing 
" his belief of the Divine kindness to him 
" to lie dormant ? — No ; it advanced by ac- 
" tion, it was both proved and exercised by 
*^ the offering up of Isaac, and by such ex- 
" ercise was the principle of faith carried 
" on to its perfection." The common inter- 
pretation of the passage supposes that " to 
" be justified," here signifies to be proved 
just, and means the same thing as the ex- 
pression in the 18th verse, " to shew faith 
" by works ;" and this may be the true 
meaning, though I prefer the other as be- 
ing more coherent with the rest of the ar- 
gument. 

But to return from this digression. It 
is not an easy, because it is not a natural 



20 



exercise of the mind, to look into itself, and 
to examine its various susceptibilities, and 
the mode or law according to which these 
are excited by external objects ; and whilst 
we are engaged in this manner, we must 
necessarily remain to a great degree unaf- 
fected by those external objects, which we 
are using merely as parts of the apparatus 
required for making the experiment on our 
own faculties. We must endeavour to be 
in some degree affected by them, in order 
that we may observe the mode in which 
they affect us ; but that degree will neces- 
sarily be very inconsiderable, in consequence 
of our attention being chiefly directed to- 
wards our own feelings. If I am intent on 
examining and investigating that pleasing 
emotion, which is produced in the mind by 
the contemplation of the beauties of nature, 
it is impossible that I can feel much of that 
pleasm-e. I may be surrounded by all that 
is sublime and all that is lovely in creation 
— the rising sun may invite my enthusiasm, 
but Memnon's lyi'e is silent, I remain un- 
touched, for I am contemplating my own 
mind, and not the scene before me: and 
that power unseen, which Akenside de- 
scribes as " throned in his bright descend-- 



21 



ing car^' must attract and absorb the at- 
tention, before it can diffuse afar any ten- 
derness of mind. The delightful feeling 
is produced by contemplating the external 
object; not by observing nor by knowing 
how we enjoy it. The more thoroughly we 
are occupied by the object, the more tho- 
roughly will our pleasurable susceptibili- 
ties be excited; and the more interrupted 
and distracted our contemplation of the ob- 
ject is, the more inconsiderable will be the 
gratification arising from it. We cannot 
excite the pleasing emotion by mere effort, 
without the real or imagined presence of its 
natural exciting object, and whilst we at- 
tempt to analyse the origin and progress of 
the emotion, the object fades from our view, 
and the sensation dies along with it. Our 
minds are in this respect like mirrors, and 
the impressions made on them resemble 
the images reflected by mirrors. No effort 
of ours can produce an image in the mirror, 
independent of its proper corresponding ob- 
ject. When that object is placed before it, the 
image appears, and when it is withdrawn, the 
image disappears. And if, in the minuteness 
of our examination of the image, we look 
too narrowly into the mirror, we may find 



22 



that we have interposed ourselves between 
the mirror and the object, and that, instead 
of the image which we expected, our own 
face is all that we can discover. I beg the 
reader to bear in mind, that these observa- 
tions do not at all interfere with the Christ- 
ian duty of self-examination, which relates 
not to the philosophy of the human mind, 
but to the actual state of the human heart. 
The science of the human mind requires 
this reflex exertion, because its object is to 
examine and discover the laws according to 
which the mind acts, or is acted upon; but 
Christianity requires no such act, because its 
object is not to discover the laws according 
to which the mind is impressed, but actually 
to make impressions on the mind, by pre- 
senting to it, objects fitted and destined for 
this purpose by Him who made the mind, 
and fixed its laws. The objects of religion 
were not revealed to us, to sharpen our fa- 
culties, by observing how they were fitted to 
impress the mind, but that our minds might 
really be impressed by them with the charac- 
ters of happiness and holiness. These cha- 
racters are the subjects of self-examination, 
and they are all contained in the Divine 
precepts. Do we love God and our neigh- 



23 



bour, and do we give proof of the reality of 
our love by corresponding action ? This is 
a very different process from that to which 
I am referring. My object is, to point out 
the folly of attempting or expecting to 
make any impressions on our minds by mere 
effort, instead of bringing them into con- 
tact with those objects which God has made 
known to us in the Gospel as the proper 
means of producing those impressions — 
and especially to warn against that parti- 
cular species of this general error, which 
consists in considering rather how we be- 
lieve than what we believe. 

From this metaphysical habit of consi- 
dering and attending to the mind itself, 
and the mode in which it is impressed, ra- 
ther than to the objects which make the 
impression, arose the division of faith into 
different kinds; and thus the feelings of 
men were substituted in the place of the 
tangible word of revelation. 

A true faith does not properly refer to 
the mode of believing, but to the object be- 
lieved. It means the belief of a true thing. 
As a correct memory does not refer to the 
process by which the impression is made, 



24 



but to the accurate representation of the fact 
remembered. It means the remembrance 
of a thing as it happened. When, after 
hearing a person relate incorrectly any his- 
tory with which we are acquainted, we say, 
" he has a bad memory," we mean merely 
that he has not remembered what happened. 
So when we say that a man has a wrong 
belief of a thing, we ought to mean merely 
that he does not believe the thing which 
really happened. The way to correct the 
memory is not to work with the faculty it- 
self independently of its object, but to at- 
tend more minutely and carefully to that 
object. And this is the only way of cor- 
recting the belief too. Were a man, when 
endeavouring to recollect some circumstance 
which had escaped him, to direct his atten- 
tion to the act of recollection rather than 
to the thing to be remembered, he would 
infallibly fail in his purpose. In like man- 
ner, if he wishes to believe any thing, there 
can be no more successful way of thwart- 
ing his own wish, than by directing his at- 
tention to the mental operation of believ- 
ing, instead of considering the thing to be 
believed, and the evidence of its truth. 



25 

But is there no such thing as a wrong 
or false way of believing what is true ? 
Are not the most important truths often 
believed without producing the slightest 
effect on the character ? Do we not some- 
times find men who are even willing to die 
as martyrs to the truth of a doctrine which 
never influenced a feeling of their hearts ? 
Let us select two of our acquaintances, 
and let us question them separately as to 
their religious belief^ concerning God and 
eternity, and their own duties and their 
own hopes ; the answers which they give 
are in substance the same, and yet their 
paths in life are diametrically opposite ; the 
life of the one is in harmony with the belief 
which he professes, the other's is not. They 
are both incapable of deceit ; how then are 
we to account for this difference, except by 
supposing that there is a right and a wrong 
way of believing the same thing? This is 
certainly a very important question, and it 
seems to me capable of a very satisfactory 
solution. Although these two persons use 
similar language, and appear to believe the 
same things, yet in reality they differ es- 
sentially in the subject-matter of their be* 
B 



26 



lief. But this requires farther illustration. 
We are so much accustomed to satisfy our- 
selves with vague ideas on the subject of 
religion, that we are easily deceived by a 
general resemblance of statements with re- 
gard to it ; and the word faith has been so 
much withdrawn from common use, and so 
much devoted to religious purposes, that it 
has very much lost its real import. To 
have faith in a thing, to believe a thing, 
and to understand a thing as a truth, are 
expressions of the same import. No man 
can be properly said to believe any thing 
which is addressed to his thinking faculty, 
if he does not understand it. 

Let us suppose a Chinese, who can speak 
no language but his own, brought before an 
English jury as a witness. Let him bring 
with him certificates and testimonials of 
character which place his truth and integrity 
above all suspicion. There is not a doubt 
entertained of him. But he gives his evi- 
dence in his own language. I ask, does any 
one juryman believe him ? Certainly not, — 
it is absolutely impossible — nobody under- 
stands a word that he utters. If, during 
the course of the evidence, the jury were 



27 



asked whether or not they believed what he 
was telling them, would they not smile at 
the question ? And yet they know that it 
is truth. They understand that the wit- 
ness is an honest man, and they believe as 
far as they understand, but they can believe 
no farther. An interpreter is brought — 
he translates the evidence ; now the jury 
understand it, and their belief accompanies 
their understanding. If one of the jury had 
understood Chinese, the difference between 
his belief and that of the rest, would have 
been accurately measured, by the difference 
of their understandings. They all heard the 
same sounds, and saw the same motions, 
but there was only one of them, to whom 
these symbols conveyed any meaning. Now 
the meaning was the thing of importance 
to be believed — and the proof of the man's 
integrity was of consequence merely on ac- 
count of the authority which it gave to his 
meaning. 

Faith and reason are so often talked of as 
not only distinct from, but even opposed to, 
each other, that I feel it of importance to 
press this point, by farther examples from 
familiar life. Several merchants receive 
B 2 



28 



from their correspondent at a distance, let- 
ters recommending them to follow a parti* 
cular covirse in their trade, in order to escape 
a threatened loss, and to insure a consider- 
able profit. And this advice is accompanied 
by the information and reasons on which it 
is founded. The speculation requires a 
good deal of hardihood, and a most implicit 
confidence in the information communicat- 
ed. One of the merchants, on reading his 
letter, cannot believe that he is in any such 
danger as is represented to him — he declares 
the letter a forgery, and throws it into the 
fire. Another knows the hand- writing too 
well, to doubt of its really coming from the 
person whose name it bears ; but he does 
not believe its contents, and therefore does 
not act according to its instructions. A 
third reads his letter as an essay on mercan- 
tile affairs in general, without observing the 
application of it to his own immediate cir- 
cumstances, or the call that it makes on him 
for instantaneous action ; and therefore he 
also is unmoved by it. A fourth acknow- 
ledges the signature and the authority of 
the information, but reads the letter care- 
lessly, and takes up a wrong idea of the 



29 



course recommended, and sets about a spe- 
culation, before he has made himself ac- 
quainted with his correspondent's plan ; 
and consequently receives as little benefit 
from the communication as any of the for- 
mer. Now, it is quite clear that not one 
of the four believed the information of their 
correspondent. Their unbelief is of differ- 
ent kinds, but the result is the same in all. 
A letter is merely the vehicle of a meaning, 
and if that meaning is not believed, the let- 
ter itself is not believed. The two first un- 
derstood the meaning of the letter, and re- 
jected it openly and professedly on its own 
merits. The two last openly and professed- 
ly assented to it, but they believed their own 
interpretation of it, and not the meaning of 
the writer. It is an absolute absurdity to 
say that a meaning can be believed without 
being understood — and therefore nothing 
which has a meaning can be fully believed 
until the meaning is understood. ^\Tien a 
thing is said or done, of which we don't per- 
ceive the meaning, we say, we don't under- 
stand that. We are sure that the word lias 
been spoken or the action performed, but Ave 
don't apprehend its import. Can we possibly 
B 3 



30 



then believe that import? In such cases, 
understanding and belief are one and the 
same thing. The third and fourth mer- 
chants could, perhaps, both of them, repeat 
their letter by memory ; and the third espe- 
cially, though ignorant, and therefore un- 
believing as to its immediate application, 
could probably talk well of its general prin- 
ciples, and quote Adam Smith in illustra- 
tion or defence of it. There is a fifth, who 
reads, acknowledges the signature, under- 
stands the contents, believes them, and acts 
accordingly. This man believes the mean^ 
ing of his correspondent, and if the infor- 
mation was good, he reaps the full advan- 
tage of it. 

In religion there cannot be any cases pa- 
rallel to that of the second merchant. No 
man can believe that the Bible was written 
by God, and at the same time openly pro- 
fess to disbelieve its contents ; and there 
are not very many who avow their unbelief 
of the Divine inspiration of the Scriptures. 
But there are many nominal Christians in 
situations very closely resembling that of 
the jurymen above mentioned, and of the 
third and fourth merchants. Are there not 



31 



many who would be astonished and hurt if 
their Christianity were doubted, who evi- 
dently attach as little meaning to the words 
Judgment, JEternity, and Justification hij 
faith in Christ, as those men did to the 
Chinese vocables ? Can these be said to be- 
lieve ? Are there not many who can speak 
and reason orthodoxly and logically on the 
doctrines of the Gospel, and yet do not un- 
derstand the urgency of these doctrines in 
application to their own souls ? These do 
not believe the meaning of the Gospel sure- 
ly. And are there not many who, mistaking 
the whole scope of the Bible, find in it, 
what is not there, a plan of justification, 
in which man performs some part, if not the 
whole, in the work of redemption ; or see 
in it merely a list and a description of du- 
ties, by the performance of which, a man 
may recommend himself to the favour of 
God ? Those who believe this, believe their 
own vain imagination, and not the Gospel. 
A man who is honest in his belief of that 
which he professes to believe, is certainly 
free from the charge of deceit and hypo- 
crisy ; but his honesty will not convert a lie 
into a truth : it cannot make that good 
B 4 



32 



news, which is not good news ; it cannot 
change the import of the Bible, or the will 
of God. " Understandest thou what thou 
'' readest ?" was Philip's question to the Eu- 
nuch ; and it is a question which each read- 
er of the Bible should put most jealously 
to himself ; for, as it is said in the parable 
of the sower, " when any one heareth the 
" word of the kingdom, and undef^standeth 
" it not^ then cometh the wicked one and 
" catcheth away that which was sown in 
" his heart." 

The Jews believed in the Divine autho- 
rity and inspiration by which Moses spoke 
— they had much more reverence for his 
name and honour than the great bulk of 
professing Christians have for the name and 
honour of the Saviour — and yet He who 
knew the thoughts of the heart, declared 
that they did not believe Moses ; " for," 
says Jesus Christ, " had ye believed Mo- 
•^ ses, ye would have believed me, for he 
'' wrote of me; but if ye believe not his 
" writings, how shall ye believe my words ?" 
He does not mean here to question their 
belief that God had indeed spoken by Mo- 
ses; but to deny their belief of Moses' 



33 



meaning. They did not understand Moses, 
and therefore they could not believe him — 
they believed their own interpretation of 
his laWj not his meaning in it. 

I may understand many things which I 
do not believe ; but I cannot believe any 
thing which I do not understand, unless it 
be something addi-essed merely to my senses, 
and not to my thinking faculty. A man may 
with great propriety say, I understand the 
Cartesian system of vortices, though I don't 
believe in it. But it is absolutely impos- 
sible for him to believe in that system 
without knowing what it is. A man may 
believe in the ability of the maker of a sys- 
tem, without understanding it ; but he can- 
not believe in the system itself, without un- 
derstanding it. Now, there is a meaning in 
the Gospel, and there is declared in it the 
system of God's dealings with men. This 
meaning, and this system, must be under- 
stood, before we can believe the Gospel. 
We are not called on to believe the Bible 
merely that we may give a proof of our 
willingness to submit in all things to God's 
authority, but that we may be influenced 
by the objects of our belief. ^\Tien the 
B 5 



34 



.Apostle of the Gentiles gives a reason why 
he is not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, 
he does not say because it is a message 
from the King of kings ; he does not found 
its importance simply on the authority of 
the promulgator of it, but in a great mea- 
sure on its own intrinsic and intelligible 
value — " For it is the power of God unto 
" salvation to every one who belie veth," 
Rom. i. 16. Salvation here signifies healings 
or deliverance, not from the condemnation, 
but from the influence of sin. His reason 
for not being ashamed of this Gospel then 
was, because it was the mighty instrument 
which God had prepared for healing the 
spiritual diseases of men. The great im- 
portance of the object to be attained by the 
publication of the Gospel invested it with its 
high dignity. But he does not leave his Ro- 
man disciples here ; he explains to them 
Jiow this gi^eat object is attained — he tells 
them what it is in the Gospel which pro- 
duces this effect — " for," continues he, in 
the 17th verse, " herein is revealed God's 
'^ plan of justification by faith." Righteous- 
ness, through this Epistle, almost without 
exception, signifies the mercy of God ma- 



35 



nifested in pardoning sinners for the sake 
of the atonement of Christ. He is after- 
wards at much pains to demonstrate to 
them, that the belief of this mercy has, from 
the very nature of man, that healing influ- 
ence which he had ascribed to it. I may 
remark here, that the passage of Malachi, 
in which the Messiah is predicted under 
the figure of the Sun of Righteousness, or 
forgiving mercy, bears a striking resem- 
blance in meaning to the verses which have 
been quoted from the Epistle to the Ro- 
mans. The Apostle represents justification, 
or the remission of sins, as the prominent 
feature and characteristic of the Gospel, 
and to this he ascribes the whole of its heal- 
ing or salutary power, — and the prophet's 
eye, in like manner, is caught by the ab- 
sorbing glory and brilliancy of this plan of 
redemption. He sees from afar a new ma- 
nifestation of the Divine character rising 
on the dark world — many and diversified 
are the high attributes of that character ; 
but as the different rays of the natural lights 
when combined, appear but one brightness 
— so the many rays of that spiritual light, 
when combined, appear but one Sun of mer- 
b6 



36 



cy — and the beams which this Sun shoots 
forth, are pardons, which heal the hearts 
they enter. 

In order, then, to the believing of the Gos- 
pel, it is necessary that the plan of justifi- 
cation by faith should be understood ; be- 
cause this is the prominent feature of the 
Gospel, and because the benefits betowed 
by the Gospel, are communicated to the soul 
through the knowledge of this doctrine. 



37 



SECTION 11. 

THE NATURE OF FAITH IN GENERAL, AND 
OF CHRISTIAN FAITH IN PARTICULAR. 

What is the difference between know- 
ledge or understanding, and faith ? Our 
understanding of a thing means the concep- 
tion which we have formed of it, or the im- 
pression which it has made on our mind, 
without any reference to its being a reality 
in nature independent of our thought, or a 
mere fiction of the imagination : And faith 
is a persuasion, accompanying these impres- 
sions, that the objects which produced them 
are realities in nature, independent of our 
thought or perception. This persuasion of 
reality accom^panies all the different modes 
in which our knowledge is acquired, as well 
as the testimony of others. When an ob- 
ject is presented to my eye, the impression 
which it makes upon me is accompanied by 
the persuasion, that the object which pro- 
duced it is truly described by the impres- 



38 



sion which it has made, and that it is a 
reality independent of myself. AVhen a 
proposition in mathematics is demonstrated 
to me, a persuasion accompanies my under- 
standing of it, that these relations of quan- 
tities are fixed and unalterable, and altoge- 
ther independent of my reasoning. When 
the generous or kind conduct of a friend 
meets my difficulties, my impression of the 
fact is accompanied by a persuasion of the 
reality of that generosity or kindness, as 
qualities existing in my friend's heart alto- 
gether independent of my thought or feel- 
ing on the subject. When I hear through 
a channel which appears to me authentic, of 
some melancholy or some joyful event, there 
is an accompanying persuasion that there is 
a real cause for joy or sorrow. 

Faith, then, is just an appendage to those 
faculties of the mind by which we receive 
impressions from external objects, whether 
they be material or immaterial. It stands 
at the entrances of the mind, as it were, and 
passes sentence on the authenticity of all 
information which goes in. Now, as faith 
is merely an appendage to another faculty, 
is it not evident that its existence and ex- 
ercise, with regard to any particular object. 



39 



must depend on the existence and exercise 
of that faculty to which the object is ad- 
dressed ? A man born blind has no impres- 
sions from light, and therefore he can have 
no faith with regard to such impressions. 
He has not the slightest conception of what 
is meant by a coloured body, and therefore 
he cannot believe in a coloured body. He 
may believe that bodies have a quality 
which he is incapable of perceiving, but 
what that quality is he does not know, and 
therefore cannot believe in it. Faith is the 
persuasion that the impression on the mind 
was produced by a real object. But if 7io 
impi^ession is made upon the mind, what 
room is there for the exercise of belief ? If 
he, like another blind man, has formed an 
idea that red is like the sound of a trumpet, 
the impression is a false one, and the belief 
appended to it is also false, that is, it is ap- 
pended to a false impression. For faith 
must always derive its character from the 
impression to which it is appended. 

If the impression is correct, the faith is 
correct; and if the impression is incorrect, 
the faith is incorrect. And when we are 
considering impressions as produced by ob- 



40 



jects supposed or known to be real, we may- 
very properly explain faith to be the im- 
pression made on our minds by some such 
object. 

A man altogether destitute of the facul- 
ty of discerning the relation of numbers 
and quantities, could not understand how 
two and two make four; — there could be 
therefore no impression on his mind corre- 
sponding to this truth, and therefore there 
could be no faith in it. There are many 
persons whose minds have been so little 
exercised in this way, that, though they 
may not by nature be incapable of receiving 
such impressions, it would yet be absolutely 
impossible to make them comprehend a ma- 
thematical process of any intricacy. These 
persons may believe certain abstract truths 
on the authority of others; but they never 
can believe in the processes by which they 
are demonstrated, because there are no im- 
pressions on their minds corresponding to 
these processes. The same reasoning holds 
good with regard to our knowledge and be- 
lief on subjects v/hich addi'ess our moral fa- 
culties, and other internal sensations. We 
must have impressions made on our minds 



41 



corresponding to moral qualities, or to the 
conditions which address our sensitive na- 
ture, before we can believe in those quali- 
ties, or in the meaning of those events and 
conditions. How, for instance, do we be- 
come acquainted with the idea of danger, 
but by an impression of fear produced in 
our minds ? Can we become acquainted 
with it by any other way ? Impossible ; for 
the only meaning of danger is, that it is 
something fitted to excite fear. How do 
we become acquainted with the meaning 
of generous worth and excellence, but by 
the love, esteem, and admiration, which they 
excite in us ? To a man whose heart is ut- 
terly dead to kindness, what meaning could 
kindness convey ? ^\Tiere there are no mo- 
ral impressions on the mind, there can be 
no belief on moral subjects; and accord- 
ing to the degree of the impression is the 
measure of the belief: For, in fact, the im- 
pression is the belief, and the belief is the 
impression. 

In illustration of this, let us suppose two 
men travelling together whose minds are 
differently constituted. One has the ordi- 
nary degree of alarm at the idea of death; 



42 



the other is entirely devoid of any such 
feeling. They come into a situation in 
which their lives are endangered. A stran- 
ger passing by, interposes between them 
and the danger, and saves their lives, but 
at the expense of his own. Our two tra- 
vellers have both of them the use of their 
eyes and their ears; they have both of them 
seen and heard precisely the same things, 
and when they tell their story, their two 
narratives agree most minutely: And yet 
they believe two essentially different things. 
The one believes that the disinterested and 
heroic generosity of a stranger has saved 
them from what he cannot but consider as 
a dark and awful fate. In consequence of 
this, he rejoices in his safety as far as his 
sorrow for his noble benefactor will permit 
— ^he feels himself laid under the most sa- 
cred obligation to reverence the memory of 
this benefactor, and to repay to his surviv- 
ing friends or family that debt of gratitude 
which he owes for his deliverance. The 
other understands nothing, and consequent- 
ly believes nothing of all this — ^he saw no 
evil in the death with which they were 
threatened, and of course no generosity in 



43 



him who rescued them from it by encoun- 
tering it himself — he neither feels joy, nor 
sorrow, nor gratitude, excited by any part 
of the history. These tv»^o men do not be- 
lieve the same thing in two different ways; 
they, in fact, believe two different things. 
Examine the two impressions. They may 
be compared to the traces left by the same 
intaglio on two different substances — the 
one substance too solid to yield to the pres- 
sure, or receive the mould of the sculpture, 
exhibits nothing perhaps but the oval out- 
line of the stone — whilst the other, possess- 
ing the right consistency, and coming in 
contact with every portion of the substance, 
receives and retains its perfect image, and 
exhibits, it may be, lineaments which ex- 
press all that mind can grasp in thought, 
or feel in tenderness. The mind of the one 
traveller has come in contact with every 
part of the action, and bears away accord- 
ingly the impression of the whole ; the 
mind of the other was incapable of coming 
in contact with the whole, and of course 
has received a most imperfect and partial 
impression. We can only know the quali- 
ties of things by corresponding susceptibi- 



44 



lities in our own minds. The absence of 
the susceptibility of fear absolutely incapa- 
citated our traveller for understanding dan- 
ger, and consequently for comprehending 
the generosity of the stranger's interference, 
or for perceiving that there was any thing 
joyful in his own deliverance. The actions 
of men are not to be considered as mere ex- 
ternal shells, or dead carcasses — they in so 
far resemble those who act them, that they 
have a spirit and internal life, as well as an 
outward form — and that this spirit consti- 
tutes their character. Of course then w^e 
de not understand nor believe a moral ac- 
tion, whilst we do not enter into its spirit 
and meaning : and we can only enter into 
the quality of its spirit, through the excite- 
ment of the corresponding susceptibilities 
of our own minds. In morals, we really 
know only what we feel. We may talk 
about feelings which we never experienced, 
and perhaps even correctly enough ; but it 
is just as a blind philosopher may talk about 
colours. 

I have here put the extreme case of the 
total destitution of a particular suscepti- 
bility, and in such a case there can be no 



45 

doubt of the result. But it is no less clear, 
that, even when there is no absolute desti- 
tution, there must always be a relative pro- 
portion between the degree of susceptibihty 
possessed by the mind, and the capacity for 
understanding and believing in facts which 
addre&s these susceptibilities. 

There is a considerable analogy between 
faith and memory, which may serve to il- 
lustrate the character of both. As faith ac- 
companies the exercise of the different fa- 
culties by which we acquire a knowledge of 
things external to ourselves, as a judge of 
the reality or non-reality of the objects 
which produce the impressions of which the 
mind is conscious ; so memory accompanies 
these same faculties as a judge, whether the 
impressions made on them are new to the 
mind, or have been present to it before. It 
is quite evident that no blind man could be 
said to remember a colour — and that no 
man whatever could be said to remember 
what he never received an impression of. 

We see, then, that the impression which 
any object makes on our minds, whatever 
that impression may be, sums up and de- 
fines our knowledge and belief of that ob- 



46 



ject. We ought then to guard against be- 
ing deceived by names. A number of men 
may receive impressions from the same ob- 
ject, and all these impressions may be dif- 
ferent, and yet each of them will give to his 
own impression, the common name of the 
object which produced it. An indifferent 
hearer may, when he listens to their story, 
suppose that they all know and believe the 
same thing ; but a judicious and curious 
questioner might discover from their own 
mouths, that amongst the whole, there are 
not tAVO impressions alike. Compare, by 
way of a broad instance, the belief of a 
moss-rose entertained by a blind man — a 
man without the sense of smell — and a man 
in the full exercise of his external senses. 
There are evidently three different impres- 
sions made on these three minds; that is, 
there are three different beliefs ; and yet 
there is but one name given to the three, 
and that is, the name of the object to which 
they all refer. 

Every object is composed of many parts 
and qualities, but all these subdivisions are 
summed up in the name given to the ob- 
ject which is their aggregate, and he who 



47 



uses the general name is presumed to im- 
ply all the parts belonging to it. Thus, a 
pillar of a hundred feet in height is talked 
of as if it were one and indivisible, whereas 
it consists of an infinite number of parts, 
the existence of each of which may be a 
distinct subject of knowledge and belief. A 
blind man who runs against it, knows and 
believes in a few square feet of it ; but he 
does not believe in the remaining feet, for 
he has received no impression from them. 
After he is informxcd of the dimensions of 
the pillar, he believes in a quite dijEFerent 
thing from what he did before ; or rather, 
perhaps, to speak more correctly, he be- 
lieves in a number of things which he could 
not believe in before, because his mind had 
not come in contact with them. 

In the same way, actions which combine 
a variety of parts are commonly talked of 
as indivisible unities, although each motive 
may be a distinct subject of knowledge and 
belief, and by its presence or absence make 
an important change in the general im- 
pression. The name remains the same, but 
the ideas are very^ different. 



48 



The Gospel is a general name likewise 
for an object which consists of several parts, 
and contains various appeals to the moral 
understanding of man. But this general 
name may cover a great many different im- 
pressions and beliefs — and yet there is but 
one impression that can be the correct re- 
presentation of the object ; all the rest must 
be false in a greater or less degree. And 
it is only the trvie impression that can be 
profitable to us. And what is that true 
impression ? This is only another way of 
putting the question, What is the Gospel ? 
for the true impression must be a correct 
representation of the Gospel in all its mean- 
ing. This is the important point ; for if 
we really understand what the Gospel is, 
and understand it as a truth, we need not 
be very solicitous about the mode in which 
we believe it. ^Vliat is the intention of 
the Gospel ? Its intention is to renew the 
character of man after the likeness and 
will of God. It is to give happiness and 
holiness to the human heart. And this 
intention is accomplished by the revelation 
of the character of God in the work of re- 



49 



demption. This is evidently a moral in- 
tention, and the object presented to our 
view for the accomplishment of it is a mo- 
ral object, even the character of God ; the 
impression therefore on our minds must 
correspond to this object, that is to say, it 
must be a moral impression, otherwise we 
do not understand it, and therefore cannot 
believe it. By iDipression^ I never mean 
the effect which an object when understood 
produces on the mind ; I mean simply the 
conception which the mind forms of the 
object, independent altogether of its influ- 
ence on the character. These two things 
are distinct from each other, the one being 
the cause and the other the effect. In or- 
der then to a full belief of the Gospel, there 
must be an impression or conception on our 
mind, representing every moral quality, and 
every truth contained and embodied in the 
facts of the Gospel history ; for the Gospel 
consists not in the facts, but in the mean- 
ing of the facts. We are not left to inter- 
pret the facts ourselves, but, along with the 
history of them, we have received the inter- 
pretation of them in the word of God. It 
is there written, "^ that God so loved the 
c 



50 

^^ world, as to give His only-begotten Son, 
^' that whosoever believeth in him should 
"^ not perish, but have everlasting life/' 
In order to understand and believe this, 
it is not enough to believe that Jesus 
Christ died on the cross for sinners. We 
must receive impressions on our minds 
corresponding to the circumstances of our 
situation, which called for the interposition 
of Divine compassion ; we are here describ- 
ed as perishing. We may have the gene- 
ral idea of perishing, in our minds, without 
fear or concern, and we may have the idea 
of others perishing, without being much 
moved ; but it is impossible that a man can 
be impressed with the fact of his being him- 
self in a perishing state, under a just con- 
demnation of eternal misery, without much 
fear and concern. If then the Gospel im- 
plies that we are in this condition ; and if 
the value of the deliverance which it pro- 
claims, rests on the truth of its statement 
in this respect, we do not understand nor 
believe the Gospel, unless we have on our 
minds an impression corresponding to the 
fact that this condition is our deserved 
fate. 



51 

We must also receive on our minds im- 
pressions corresponding to a deliverance 
from this state. This impression will be 
joyful ; for deliverance from misery means 
that which produces joy. If the Gospel 
contains tidings of deliverance for persons 
in our circumstances, we do not understand 
it unless there be on our minds, an impres- 
sion corresponding to these glad tidings. 

If this interposition on our behalf pro- 
ceeded from holy love, on the part of God, 
we cannot understand the nature of the 
Gospel, unless we know both what holiness 
and love mean ; and this we cannot know 
by mere description. We must have on 
our minds impressions corresponding to ho- 
liness and love, before we can believe in 
holy love. Had we no affections, the Gos- 
pel would be in vain proclaimed to us, be- 
cause it is addressed to the affections, and 
without them we could not understand it. 
And when they are unexercised upon it, it 
comes to the same thing as if we were with- 
out them. 

Is it then with my heart or affections 
that I believe the Gospel ? No. No more 
than I believe coloiu's with my eye. I can- 
c 2 



52 



not understand or believe in colours with- 
out the information which has been receiv- 
ed through my eye. Neither can I under- 
stand or believe in happiness, or misery, or 
moral qualities, except by means of the in- 
formation which has been received through 
my affections. If I am told by a friend 
that he has lately seen a flower of a parti- 
cular colour, to which he applies a name 
that I never heard of before, I cannot un- 
derstand his information until he explains 
to me what colour he means, neither can I 
believe it although I have perfect confidence 
in his veracity. There is no impression on 
my mind corresponding to my friend's in- 
formation, and so there can be no belief. 
And the case is the same with regard to 
the affections. 

As to some it may appear that I am here 
opposing the word of revelation, it is neces- 
sary to observe, that in the Bible, the heart 
generally means the whole mind, and does 
not stand for the affections exclusively, as 
it does in our common language. In Ro- 
mans X. 10. the internal reception of the 
truth is opposed to the external confession 
of it. The heart, in Rom. i. 21. evidently 



53 



means the understanding. We cannot be- 
come acquainted with any thing, except by 
the impressions which it makes upon us. 
And these impressions are made on our dif- 
ferent senses, external and internal. As 
we know the taste of a substance by our 
palate, and its colour by our eye ; so w^e 
know the joyfulness of an event, by the 
happiness which it produces in us, and the 
amiableness of an object by the love or ad- 
miration which we feel for it. Where the 
external sense is awanting, or diseased, or 
dormant, the information which we ought 
to receive from it is deficient ; and where 
the internal sense is dormant or weak, there 
is either no impression received, or a defi- 
cient one. Our external senses come in 
contact with the external form of objects 
and actions, and om' internal senses come in 
contact with their spirit and meaning. If 
we do not come in contact with the whole, 
we do not understand the whole ; we re- 
ceive only a partial impression, and that 
impression limits our belief. 

A belief of the Gospel, then, comprehends, 
not only the impressions corresponding to 
the external facts of the history, but also 
c 3 



54 



the impressions which correspond to all the 
moral qualities and conditions, therein at- 
tributed to God and man. If the Gospel 
was made known to us that it might con- 
form our characters to the image of that 
God who is manifested in it, the perfection 
of our characters will depend on the per- 
fection of the impression which we receive 
from the Gospel. And the perfection of 
that impression will depend on our coming 
in contact with every part of the Gospel ; 
and we only come in full contact with it, 
vv^hen those affections which are addressed 
by it, are really excited by it. 



1. 



55 



SECTION III. 

THE MODE IN WHICH MAN IS ADDRESSED 
AND FAITH CALLED INTO ACTION BY 
THE GOSPEL. 

But can a corrupt mind receive any im- 
pression which may with fairness be said to 
represent the holy love of God ? We can- 
not believe in holy love without knowing 
what it means ; and how can a polluted heart 
acquire such an idea ? Is faith in the Gos- 
pel a holy principle ? Is it a new faculty ? 
I would answer this question by another. 
Is the remembrance of the atonement, a holy 
principle or a new faculty ? Both the belief 
and the memory are here exercised on a ho- 
ly thing, the impressions to which they be- 
long are received from a holy object, and 
that object has been presented to the heart 
by the Holy Spirit ; but yet belief and me- 
mory are natural exercises of the mind, and 
are conversant with the things of earth as 
well as the things of heaven. 

Conscience gives us an idea of sin, and 
the idea of sin enables us, in some measure, 
c 4 



56 



to form a conception of its opposite, holi- 
ness. The corruption of man does not con- 
sist in his acquiring wrong faculties, nor 
does the renewal of man consist in his hav- 
ing new faculties bestowed on him. His cor- 
ruption consists in the misdirection of his 
faculties, and his renewal consists in their 
being directed to their proper objects. Man, 
in his depravity, has all the faculties 
which a child of God has, in this life. And 
he has a natural ability to use these facul- 
ties as he will. The inability, therefore, of 
a polluted creatm-e to receive an impression 
of holy love, is not a natural inability ; if 
he would, he could ; his inability is moral, 
it lies in the opposition of his will and af- 
fections, and this is his crime. How then 
does the Gospel enter the heart, for are not 
all hearts in this condition ? The Father of 
the Spirits of all flesh was He who sent the 
Gospel ; and His wisdom it was which fit- 
ted it for its work of regeneration. His 
Spirit operates on the heart, but He ope- 
rates by means of an instrument well fitted 
for its end. The moral principles are in- 
deed diseased, (though not extirpated, let it 
be remembered;) but man has other princi- 



57 

pies, and through these the Gospel may find 
an entrance to his heart and overcome that 
opposition of his will, which makes him 
unsusceptible of impressions from the holy 
love of God. It would be of no use to us if 
it addressed only unpolluted spirits. It is 
fitted for man in every condition. Its first 
address is to the very elements of our na- 
ture, to that instinct which seems common 
to us and the inferior animals, — self-preser- 
vation, and the desire of happiness. 

This principle is a most powerful one. 
Joy and sorrow are mere expressions of 
self-love, and these are our ruling feelings, 
and maintain their sway most universally 
and constantly. They are the sources of our 
love and hatred, our hope and fear. We 
love and hope for that in which we find 
joy ; we dislike, and avoid, and fear, that 
in which we find sorrow. These feelings 
exist, and are in exercise, in every mind ; 
and the character depends on the objects by 
which they are excited. 

The form in which the Gospel was an- 
nounced by the angel to the shepherds of 
Bethlehem, marks its distinguishing cha- 
racteristic to be joy, and points to these na- 
c 5 



58 

tural instincts as the feelings to which it is 
addressed. '' Behold/' said the heavenly 
messenger, " I bring you good tidings of 
'' great joy, which shall be to all people ; 
" for unto you is born this day in the city 
" of David a Saviour, who is Christ the 
" Lord." This message was dictated by 
Him who made the heart of man, and knew 
what was fitted to give it joy. It is there- 
fore evident, that unless we see joy in the 
substance of the message, we do not under- 
stand it as God meant it, and therefore can- 
not believe it. We cannot believe that tid- 
ings are joyful to ourselves, unless we see 
that in them which excites our joy. The 
matter of joy lay in the birth of the Deliver- 
er. That person had appeared on earth 
who, according to Daniel's prediction, was 
to make an end of sin, and to bring in an 
everlasting righteousness. If we are con- 
vinced that we are in a state of guilt and 
danger, or feel that we are unhappy, we 
cannot but consider the news of deliverance 
as tidings of great joy. But deliverance 
sounds poor to a man who does not feel that 
he requires it. The words of the message, 
it will be obser^'ed, do not merelv refer to 



59 



the moral nature of the Gospel ; it address- 
es particularly the feelings of joy and sorrow. 
Behold these feelings, and then contem- 
plate the glorious character of God ; and let 
us join in praise to Him who hath conde- 
scended, through such obscure avenues, to 
introduce the light of that character into the 
soul of man. If the Gospel addressed mere- 
ly om' generous feelings, our love of what is 
right and excellent, om' sense of what is 
beautiful and lovely, it would be a very dif- 
ferent thing from what it is ; it would be 
suited to another order of beings, and, with 
regard to us, would scarcely be deserving the 
uame of glad tidings. But, blessed be the 
name of our God — He hath addressed us in 
that character which cleaves closest to us — 
He hath spoken to us as base and polluted, 
but above all, as selfish beings. The very 
first principle which he addresses, is that of 
instinctive self-preservation. He meets the 
natiu'al cry of misery, and the weary and un- 
defined cravings of the unsatisfied spirit. 
His loudest and most general invitations, 
both in the Old and New Testaments, are 
addressed, not to the moral, but to the na- 
tiu'al feelings ; to the sense of misery, and 
c6 



60 



the desire of happiness. " Ho, every one 
'' that thirsteth, come ye to the waters," 
Isaiah Iv. 1. '' Come unto me, all ye that 
" are weary and heavy laden, and I will give 
" you rest," Matt. xi. 28. ^\Tiosoever 
" will, let him take of the water of life free- 
" ly," Rev. xxii. 17. At this despised door 
of nature the Saviour knocks, and through 
it He deigns to enter. He came to bind up 
the broken heart, and to comfort all that 
mourn. And many come, as it seems, led 
by the mere instinctive longing after enjoy- 
ment, and try the Gospel as a last and for- 
lorn experiment, after the failure of every 
other attempt to obtain happiness. And, 
Oh, what an unlooked-for discovery do they 
make ! he who had found no resting-place 
in the world, and who had wandered through 
it in quest of some object, however insigni- 
ficant, that might interest him, and for a 
moment at least remove the sense of that 
hopeless languor which lay dead upon his 
heart, finds now an object which his widest 
desires cannot grasp, even filial communion 
with God here, and the full enjoyment of 
Him through a magnificent eternity, on the 
very threshold of which he already stands. 



61 



He who has felt himself too weak to resist 
the storms and roughnesses of life, learns to 
lean with confidence on Omnipotence. He 
whose conscience of sin has made life a bur- 
den to him, and at the same time has taught 
him to look with a vague horror to futurity, 
applies to that fountain which was opened 
in the house of David for sin and for un- 
cleanness, and he has peace with God, 
through faith in Jesus Christ. 

The joy of the Gospel, though it may be 
at first sought and embraced in gratifica- 
tion of natural instinct, contains in it the 
principles of the Christian character. At 
first it may appear mere dehverance from 
misery, and in this view it attracts the mi- 
serable ; but as the means by which this 
deliverance was effected are seen, its moral 
power develops itself, and that Spirit whose 
unfelt influence led them here for comfort, 
opens the eyes of their understandings to 
discern the truth, and prepares their affec- 
tions to receive it in the love of it. 

Joy precedes love. We must take de- 
light in an object before we can love it. 
We must take delight in God's gifts before 
we can know them to be benefits, or feel 



62 



grateful for Item. We must take delight 
in his character before we can love Him. 
When we perceive that the safety and hap- 
piness of our souls for ever rest upon the 
character of God as manifested in the cross 
of Christ, we must take delight in that ma- 
nifestation, and in the character so mani- 
fested ; and thus we learn to love them. 
When we see the faithfulness and justice 
of God, formerly so alarming to our guilty 
consciences, now not merely smiling on us, 
but actually becoming the foundation of as- 
sured hope through the satisfaction of the 
Saviour's blood, we must delight in them, 
and this delight will teach us love. This 
love and this delight will grow more and 
more disinterested. The glory of God will 
be contemplated with a rapture unmixed 
with selfish thoughts. " Thy loving kind- 
" ness is better than life," says David, in 
the generous spirit of a child of God. Thy 
gifts are good and worthy of thyself^ but 
still that love which bestowed them is far 
dearer to my heart than they — without that 
love even thy gifts would appear poor to me. 
The love of God produces likeness to God, 
and thus the joy of the Lord is the strength 
of his people. 



63 

It will be observed, that what I have al- 
ready said on this subject, applies equally to 
those who were eye-witnesses of the events 
of the Saviour's life, and to those who have 
since heard or read the report of them. I 
am not speaking of the evidence on which 
the Gospel is believed, but on belief itself. 
We are too much accustomed in a loose 
way, to oppose faith and sight to each other, 
without considering what it is which is seen 
and what it is which is believed. Our eyes 
cannot see a meaning, nor can they see a 
moral principle, although they may see the 
action in which it is embodied. The dis- 
ciples and companions of Christ when upon 
earth, were called upon to exercise faith^ 
just as we are in the present time — and the 
same causes which hindered their faith, hin- 
der ours. Their faith was exercised in re- 
ceiving the interpretation of the events and 
actions which they witnessed. That inter- 
pretation consisted in the delineation of the 
moral government and character of God, 
and his judgment on the character of man. 
This was evidently addressed to their mo- 
ral feelings ; and the accuracy of the im- 
pression on their minds, and consequently 



64 



of their belief, depended entirely on the state 
of these feelings. If they had no such feel- 
ings at all, they could not believe at all. 
And in proportion to the strength and 
soundness of these moral feelings, would be 
the correctness of their understanding and 
their faith on the subject. It will thus ap- 
pear, that their situation with regard to the 
reception of the Gospel did not differ much 
from our own. In both cases, that recep- 
tion will be found to bear a certain propor- 
tion to the direction and the strength of the 
moral feelings. 

There is a depth of ignorance and self 
deception in the wonder so often expressed 
at the infidelity of the Jews, which demands 
our serious consideration. They believed 
what they saw — they could not disbelieve 
it. They said, " This man doeth many 
miracles," — but they did not believe the spi- 
rit and meaning of what the Saviour did, 
and that was the chief point. It may be 
thus, and it is thus with many now. Sup- 
pose that the outward senses of a man were 
made capable of receiving, and should ac- 
tually receive an impression of that fact in 
the divine nature, which is called the doc- 



65 



trine of the Trinity, — that man might be in 
reality a Socinian with this impression fresh 
upon him, as readily as before it. The 
meaning and spirit of the doctrine, is that 
energy of holy love which restores a mined 
world by the atonement of Christ, and the 
gift of the Holy Ghost. "VMiere this mean- 
ing is not perceived and felt, it matters 
little what name is taken. Socinianism 
may be virtually taught, where its name 
is denounced, and Trinitarianism may be 
most orthodoxly defended, where its spirit 
is unknown or unloved. 

No, it is not the bare unexplained fact 
which is the object of Chi'istian faith, nor is it 
any impression which can be made on the eye 
alone, that can bring us into communion with 
God. Our moral faculties must then be in 
right and healthful exercise, in order that we 
may have a correct belief of moral truths. 
Jesus saw in the vain-glorious feelings of the 
Jews, a bar to their belief of his doctrines ; 
'• How can ye believe," says he, '• who re- 
'• ceive honoiu' one of another, and seek not 
" the honour which cometli from God on- 
" ly ?" John V. 44. How often, in our in- 
tercourse with the world, do we hear it 



66 



said, " that such a man cannot estimate the 
" character of such another, that he cannot 
" comprehend his feelings ?" And it is so. 
There is great diversity in human charac- 
ters and capacities. There is a fervour in 
the feelings of some, which colder spirits 
cannot conceive, and therefore cannot be- 
lieve. Oh ! what then shall we say of the 
highest impression which man can have of 
the character of God ? What heart can con- 
ceive the fervour of that love wherewith he 
so loved the world, as to give for it His 
only-begotten Son? What notions of sin, 
or of justice, have we, that can enable us to 
receive an adequate impression of the ne- 
cessity of the sacrifice of Christ, in order 
that the pardon of man might be reconciled 
with the honour of God ? No created mind 
can receive a full impression of the Divine 
character, — the highest archangel cannot 
look on the cross of Christ, as God looks on 
it, — ^how much less can man, who is a worm! 
Perfect faith in a history of high moral ex- 
cellence, supposes moral faculties in a high 
state of power and exercise ; for no faculties 
except in that state are capable of receiving 
such an impression- 



67 



What then ? Is faith the result of cha- 
racter, instead of being the cause and the 
former of character ? It is both. The ob- 
jects of faith do not create faculties in the 
mind, which had no previous existence 
there ; but they call into action, and direct 
and strengthen those which they find there. 
The greatest variety of colours presented to 
a blind man cannot give him sight ; but if 
they are presented to a man who sees, they 
will exercise his sight, and give him a pow- 
er of discriminating their varieties, which 
is inconceivable to those who have not been 
trained to it. So also an estimable object 
presented to a mind destitute of moral feel- 
ings, cannot create esteem or love ; but if 
the faculty be there, though in a weak and 
languid state from want of exercise, its pro- 
per object will in some measure excite and 
call it forth, and by exercise strengthen it. 
This is the only way of correcting and 
strengthening our faculties, either intellec- 
tual or moral. If they have been allowed 
to lie dormant, their exciting causes must 
be presented to them — if they have been 
active, but directed to wrong objects, they 
must be brought in contact with their pro- 



68 



per and legitimate objects. The impression 
made by these objects, may be at first very 
weak and imperfect, and such of necessity 
will also be the belief of them ; but by ex- 
ercise the faculties will gain their proper 
bent, and will increase in strength, and the 
faith which is attached to their impressions 
will keep pace with them. 

How can a feeling which has a wrong 
direction be turned into its proper channel, 
except by having a proper exciting object 
presented to it ? We cannot alter the course 
of a feeling, without presenting to it some 
other object more attractive. The superior 
attraction of this object may not at first be 
felt, but it will produce some effect ; it will 
act at least as a disturbing force ; it will 
shake the supremacy of the former object, 
and prepare the way for its own more cor- 
dial reception upon the next occasion. — 
Where we cannot but use mechanical force, 
the only way that we have of operating up- 
on steel filings is by a magnet: — and if they 
are detained by magnetic attraction in the 
place from which we wish to remove them, 
all that we can do, is to find out and apply 
a stronger magnet. The filings cannot be 



69 



addressed in any other way. So we can- 
not, as it were, lay hands upon our feelings, 
and force them in what directions we think 
fit ; they do not feel any coercion of this 
kind : we must use magnetic influence; we 
must apply a more proper and a stronger 
exciting cause. The understanding of the 
true excellence of this new object increases 
by degrees as it is exercised, and faith along 
with it Thus it was that " Abraham's 
" faith wrought with his works, and by 
" works was faith made perfect," James ii. 
22. Abraham's faith in the character of 
God was different at last from what it was 
at first. Every view which had been given 
him of the Divine perfections, had tended 
to expand his capacities, to correct and 
strengthen his moral feelings, and thus to 
fit him for more true and more lively im- 
pressions of that character in future. As 
he grew in holiness, he could better under- 
stand the meaning and excellence of the Di- 
vine holiness ; and as he grew in love, he 
could form more adequate conceptions of the 
Divine love. And thus would his faith be 
as the shining light, which shineth more 
and more unto the perfect day. The holy 



70 

love of God is the attribute most glorified 
in the atonement. This is the crown ; this 
gives its character to the whole work. The 
more polluted and depraved, therefore, a 
mind is, the less capable is it of understand- 
ing and believing the Gospel. 

And yet the Gospel was sent into the 
world, that the polluted and depraved might 
be saved by the faith of it, both from the 
condemnation and the power of sin. And 
well is it fitted for their case. Even in the 
most polluted and the most depraved, there 
are feelings still remaining which, in the 
hour of sorrow or fear, may melt to the 
voice of kindness and compassion. There 
are in the store-house of Providence, events 
which will bring the stoutest heart to a 
stand, and force it to feel its weakness — 
and then the charge of guilt may refuse any 
longer to be despised, and the gracious in- 
vitations of an Almighty Father may not 
be disregarded. Besides, sin, though it mis- 
directs, does not weaken self-love. An- 
guish, and doubt, and fear, and sorrow, and 
pain, enter the sinner's soul. And to these 
feelings are the glad tidings of the Gospel 
addressed. 



71 



All the parts of Divine truth are linked 
together, so that if one part is received, 
there is a preparation of heart for the rest. 
They are not united merely as parts of an 
intellectual system, though they have this 
union — they are united also by a sympathy 
between the feelings excited by the objects 
which the truth presents. Thus, if I believe 
that the sufferings and death of the incar- 
nate Deity were required to expiate sin, and 
that he -submitted to this for our sakes, my 
reason is prepared for the conclusion, no 
doubt, that sin is a very hateful and fearful 
thing; and this is the connection of the two 
doctrines as parts of an intellectual system. 
But there is still a far more important con- 
nection between the feelings produced by 
the two doctrines. If my mind is impress- 
ed by the love of Christ in dying for me, 
the sense of his overwhelming kindness and 
compassion will lay me low in the dust be- 
fore him, and make me loathe myself, both 
as being the cause of his sufferings, and on 
account of the total inadequacy of my gra- 
titude, in proportion to the favour bestowed 
on me. Even so also joy in the atonement, 
merely as the means of escape from misery, 
3 



72 

is blessed by the Spirit of God, to bring 
forth the fruit of holy love, to the praise of 
the glory of his grace, in the hardest and 
the foulest heart. The joy of a free deli- 
verance softens and expands the heart. It 
is thus prepared to look at the blood which 
was its ransom, with tenderness and grati- 
tude — and thus is it led to rejoice in the 
love of Him whose blood was shed. There 
are many entrances, through which the Spi- 
rit introduces his powerful weapon, some of 
them to human reason more likely than 
others ; but where He works, there is suc- 
cess ; and without his influence, the most 
probable means fail. We only know so 
much concerning the nature of that influ- 
ence, as may humble us, and keep us in a 
continual state of dependence on Divine 
aid. We see thus far, however, concerning 
the mode in which it is applied, that God 
works upon our minds by the operation of 
the truth on those natural faculties which 
he has bestowed on us. 

The man who is continually exercising 
his faith in those truths which he knows, is 
daily becoming fitter to receive other truths : 
^Vhilst the man whose affections are direct- 



73 

ed to wrong objects, is daily becoming less 
susceptible of impressions from right ob- 
jects, and is thus becoming more and more 
hardened in unbelief. 

Let us suppose that an angel had been 
kept ignorant of the work of atonement un- 
til now, and that the Gospel were for the 
first time declared to him and to a harden- 
ed sinner together. Oh, what a difference 
would there be in their reception of it, and 
feelings from it ! With what humble and 
grateful rapture would that holy being wel- 
come and embrace this new and glorious 
manifestation of his Father's character ! 
As he dwelt and fed upon it, he would 
sensibly grow in love, and holiness, and 
happiness. He would feel no difficulty, 
no doubt on the subject ; he would delight 
in God, with exceeding joy. And why 
would he be thus ready to receive it as soon 
as he heard it ? Because his affections had 
already been exercised by, and formed upon, 
other manifestations of the Divine charac- 
ter; and though this last work excelled them 
in glory, yet it only carried into brighter 
display, principles which had akeady been 
adored and loved by the heavenly hosts. 

D 



74 

The same affections with which, from his 
creation, he had regarded God, and which 
had been strengthened by continual exer- 
cise, are addressed by the Gospel ; they are 
only called into more intense action; they are 
already tuned to this new song, only their 
pitch is lower. But what reception does the 
sinner give it ? Let each of our hearts an- 
swer, how often, how obstinately, we have 
rejected it. The angel was happy before ; 
this new discovery only makes an addition 
to a happiness which was already great: 
but we, whose lawful inlieritance was eter- 
nal misery, and whose only hope of having 
the darkness of hell exchanged for the light 
of heaven, lay in this Gospel, — we hear it 
with carelessness and indifference, perhaps 
with scorn and indignation ; — and even if 
it has pleased God, of his abundant com- 
passion, to force upon us some sense of its 
excellency. Oh how indolent have we been 
in the enjoyment of it ! how cold and for- 
getful in the expressions of our gratitude 
for it ! And why does this happen ? What 
is the explanation of this miserable and pi- 
tiable folly ? Our affections have been so 
habitually directed to objects different from 



75 

and opposed to the character and will of 
God, that they scarcely feel the attraction 
of their proper objects when presented to 
them. There is, however, no other mode 
of recovery for a mind in that state, than 
the contemplation of these proper objects. 
If it feel its disease, it is prepared to receive 
the good tidings with joy, and to cry ear- 
nestly and importunately to Him, who can 
save, and will save, all who come to Him. 

The affections of the angel's mind have 
been so habituated to excitement from their 
proper objects — the character of God, and 
his works and ways, as interpreted by Him- 
self, — that they would feel no movement 
from the presence of an improper object. 
His heart is so full of God, that it rejects 
every thing opposed to Him : Whilst the 
hardened sinner's heart is scarcely stirred at 
all by the presence of a proper object for 
the affections, and is so full of self and sin, 
that it requires the hand of Omnipotence to 
force upon it the objects of eternity. The 
human mind is indeed so far like a mirror, 
that impressions can only be made upon it 
by corresponding objects, — and that no effort 
of ours, without the instrumentality of these 
D 2 



76 



objects, can make the impressions ; but in 
this respect it differs from a mirror, that, by 
habit, it becomes increasingly susceptible of 
impressions from any class of objects. Ob- 
serve the growth of avarice, of ambition, 
and of sensual indulgence. Minds long- 
habituated to receive impressions from 
the objects of these disordered affections, 
seem at last to yield themselves entire- 
ly to them, and to refuse all other excite- 
ment. The view of this law of our mo- 
ral being, has something very striking and 
awful in it. Every thought, every wish, 
every action, is making us more accessible 
either to the invitations of heaven or the 
temptations of hell. The movements of 
our minds may be forgotten by us, but they 
have left traces behind them, which may 
affect our eternal destiny. They do not 
terminate in themselves — in their own rec- 
titude, or their own sin ; they have strength- 
ened some principle, and weakened its op- 
posite. Think whether that principle forms 
a part of the character of heaven or the cha- 
racter of hell. If it be a part of the charac- 
ter of heaven, an advance has been made in 
overcoming the enmity of the heart ; and if 



77 



it be a part of the character of hell, unbelief 
is more confirmed, because the mind is less 
open to impressions from the truth. The 
aflFections, when habitually misdirected, 
clothe the soul as with impenetrable ar- 
mour against all assaults of the truth. It 
is this armour which Isaiah describes, when 
he predicts the rejection of Christ by the 
Jews : " Make the heart of this people fat, 
^' and make their ears heavy, and shut their 
'* eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and 
" hear with their ears, and convert and be 
'^ healed," Isaiah vi. 10. This passage is 
quoted in the New Testament by St. John, 
who attributes the unbelief of the people to 
the state of mind here described, John xii. 
59, 40. 



D 3 



78 



SECTION IV. 

THE MUTUAL DEPENDANCE OF FAITH 
AND SANCTIFICATION ON EACH OTHER 
FOR GROWTH. 

It appears, then, that the belief of any one 
moral or spiritual truth operating on the 
mind, prepares it for the readier reception 
of any other, because it exercises the same 
class of affections, and thus increases their 
susceptibility of impressions from a farther 
revelation. It was to be expected, therefore, 
that those Jews who had received the truth 
communicated through their own dispensa- 
tion, would welcome the doctrine of Clii'ist ; 
and that those who did not believe in the 
spiritual sense of their own Scriptui'es, would 
reject the true Messiah when he appeared. 
Thus Simeon and Anna, and those to whom 
she spoke, and John the Baptist, and all 
who understood and believed in the spiri- 
tual nature of the Messiah's kingdom, be- 
lieved in Jesus Christ — whilst those whose 



79 



affections had been unexercised by the spi- 
ritual character of God, and occupied by- 
worldly expectations, were prepared to re- 
ject him. Our Lord seems to refer to this 
distinction in the 10th chapter of John. 
Those whose affections had been rightly ex- 
ercised by the truth already revealed, knew 
the voice of Christ whenever they heard it. 
They were his sheep. They were prepared 
to receive him, not merely by their belief 
in the prophecies relating to him, but by 
having the temper of their minds harmoniz- 
ed to the spirit of his doctrine. In the l6th 
verse of the chapter, he may either allude 
to those in the Gentile world, who had, by 
the teaching of the Spirit, received that 
tinith which is revealed in the works and 
ways of God, and in the testimony of con- 
science, and had thus been prepared for 
greater light ; or to those in general beyond 
the Jewish boundary, whose hearts should 
afterwards be opened to attend to the Gos- 
pel. In Acts xiii. 48. there appears to be 
a reference made to the distinction above 
mentioned. The translation does not give 
the meaning of the original. We surely 
are not to suppose that all the Gentiles in 
D 4 



80 



that place, who ever were to embrace the 
Gospel, did so at that time, and that their 
number was then summed and shut up. 
The spirit of the passage would require 
some such phrase as " bound towards," or 
" prepared for" eternal life, substituted in 
place of " ordained.'' The meaning seems 
to be this : Those of the Gentiles who, by 
attending the Jewish synagogue, had learn- 
ed the doctrine of eternal life through an 
atonement, or who, without this advantage, 
had been convinced that they were sinners, 
and must be saved if saved at all, by free 
grace, embraced the Gospel whenever they 
heard it, as the development, and fulfil- 
ment, and harmonizing explanation of those 
truths which they had already partially re- 
ceived. 

This view of the subject does not at all 
interfere with that most precious truth, that 
the work of Christ is a foundation of hope 
broad enough and strong enough for the 
chief of sinners, and that the spiritual me- 
dicine of the Gospel is adequate to the cure 
of the most desperate moral maladies. We 
daily see instances of the Gospel being per- 
tinaciously rejected by those whose amiable 



81 

affections would lead us to anticipate for it 
a very different reception ; as we often find 
it embraced by those whose tone of mind 
seemed most averse to it. And we are 
hence taught to look to the great Disposer 
of hearts. But still there is a certain fit- 
ness in some minds for the reception of the 
Gospel, beyond what there is in others. 
Thus a conviction of sin naturally prepares 
the way to receive, with eagerness, the good 
news of forgiveness. A conviction of the 
insufficiency of this world to give perma- 
nent happiness, is certainly a preparation 
of mind for entertaining a higher hope. 
The explanation of this fact is, that in all 
such cases the truth has been partialhj re- 
ceived already ; and the affections exercis- 
ed even by a fragment of the Divine will, 
are prepared to receive impressions from 
other manifestations of it. We may, with 
humble confidence, trust to the Divine pro- 
mise, " that those who seek shall find," as an 
encouragement to us in our search after 
more spiritual light : and we may have this 
confidence confirmed, when we consider the 
provision which has been made in the con- 
stitution of our minds for its fulfilment. 
D 5 



82 



The man who walks faithfully un- 
der the influence of one moral truth, be- 
comes necessarily more qualified for receiv- 
ing a farther measm-e of truth. For it is 
the will and appointment of God, that by 
faithful action, and the steady exercise of 
the affections, under the influence of known 
truth, our capacity for moral knowledge, 
and consequently for believing moral truth, 
should be expanded. No one is justified 
in sitting still, until he knows more. Let 
present duty be influenced by the truth 
which is at present known. But then it 
must be a tinitJi ; for otherwise the princi- 
ples opposed to the Gospel are exercised 
and strengthened by it. A man who per- 
forms the external duties of life strictly? 
who is a liberal contributor to the necessi- 
ties of others, and who attends Divine or- 
dinances regularly, with the expectation ex- 
pressed or understood of thus creating to 
himself a claim on the favour of God, and 
a plea for the pardon of past sins, is hourly 
strengthening a principle in the most di- 
rect opposition to the cross of Christ, and 
is hourly becoming more inaccessible to the 
glad tidings of salvation. It is quite ab- 



83 



surd to recommend to such a man to go on 
in his course, with the hope that his faith- 
ful walking will be rewarded by farther 
light. The farther he advances on that 
road, so much the deeper is he involved in 
condemnation and darkness, and the more 
unlikely is it that he will ever retm-n. 

The truths which must he received, with 
respect to man, are his guilt and helpless- 
ness ; and with respect to God, are his ho- 
liness and his mercy. The man who be- 
lieves in these truths, perhaps has not the 
joy of the Gospel, but he believes in the 
elements of the Gospel ; and when his affec- 
tions are exercised by them, they are exer- 
cised in conformity with the spirit of the 
Gospel. But the Gospel itself is as intelli- 
gible as these its elements, and as intelli- 
gible also as any precept in the moral law. 
Its address to our natm-al principle of self- 
preservation is surely simpler than any mo- 
ral exhortation can be — and the manifesta- 
tion of the love of God, and of his abhor- 
rence of sin, in the cross of Christ, is sure- 
ly as intelligible as the commandment to 
love God, or the declaration that " cursed 
" is every one who continue th not in all 
D 6 



84 



" the words of the law to do them/' Why 
then may not the Gospel be preached, as 
well as the law, upon any occasion ? And 
why is it generally thought more advisable 
to teach children, and the weak, and the 
ignorant, rather to know their duties out 
of the law^ than to love their duties out of 
the Gospel "? There is something very in- 
consistent with reason in supposing, that 
abstract preceptive moral truths can be 
more intelligible, or more easily received, 
than the same moral truths when exempli- 
fied in the Gospel history. The same fa- 
culties qualify us for receiving impressions 
from both. There is, however, a difference 
in the impressions made in these two ways. 
The impression received from the precept^ 
is necessarily a cold, and joyless, and life- 
less impression, because its object addresses 
merely the sense of duty. Whilst the Gos- 
pel, not only addresses the sense of duty, but 
makes an irresistible appeal to every feeling 
of self-love, and every principle of gratitude 
and generosity. And let this also be re- 
membered, that '' It is by grace we are 
'' saved, through faith'' 



85 

It is very possible that a man may be 
in a state of confirmed hardness, and dark- 
ness, and unbelief, and yet have what may 
appear to himself and his friends very 
clear views of the Gospel. It has been 
already frequently repeated, that although 
moral actions are truly understood and be- 
lieved only when there is an impression on 
the mind significant of the moral principle 
contained in them, yet their external form 
can be believed and talked about, when 
their principle is not at all perceived. Thus 
the outward form of the facts of the Christ- 
ian history may be believed implicitly ; and 
yet if the love of God is not perceived, and 
the freeness and undeservedness of the re- 
demption through His Son, — the Gospel 
is not believed. But if actions are liable 
in this way to misinterpretation, words are 
even more so. A man may say that he 
believes the history of the Saviour, and 
that he receives it as a manifestation of the 
love of God, without being in the slightest 
degree hypocritical, and yet he may not be 
a believer. Love is a word symbolical of a 
particular state of feeling. A meaning, 
therefore, must be attached to it by every 



86 



individual corresponding to his own state 
of feeling. If his state of feeling is disor- 
dered, of course the meaning attached to 
this word will be a wrong one. But it of- 
ten happens that we do not attach to our 
words even such meanings as our minds 
ai'e capable of attaching to them. The 
meaning is perhaps a complex idea, and we 
cannot allow ourselves time to receive a full 
impression of it ; whereas the word is short 
and convenient, and perfectly answers all 
purposes of conversation or reasoningc We 
accordingly use the word, and leave the 
meaning for another occasion. Now, the 
Gospel is addressed not to our conversa- 
tional or argumentative powers, but to our 
moral principles and natural feelings ; and 
therefore it is not really received, unless 
the impression of its moral meaning is ac- 
tually made on the mind. And let each 
one think for himself, how often this bless- 
ed truth has passed over his mind, and has 
left behind it no more trace of holiness, 
than the foot of Christ did on the ground 
of Judea. Oh, the waters that proceed 
from this fountain are deadly waters, and 
many there are who drink thereat ! Philo- 



87 



sophical thinking minds are very apt, un- 
consciously, to fall into this error, especial- 
ly such as fill the office of religious teach- 
ers, and most difficult it is to escape from 
its paralyzing habit and influence. 

^Vho is there, even amongst serious think- 
ers, that does not often feel horrified at the 
lightness and unmovedness with which he 
can speak or write that name which repre- 
-sents the eternal Majesty of heaven, in con- 
versation called religious, or in private study 
called theological ! Could indifference, or 
improper warmth, or a vain desire of vic- 
tory, find place in a mind, to which the 
idea of such an object as God was really 
present? Impossible — and yet how often 
are such feelings in the mind, when that 
word is in the mouth ! It is evident in such 
a case that the great thing is not believed 
at the time. ^Miat is the impression on 
the mind? None corresponding to the 
mighty object assuredly ; the word only 
has impressed the mind as a logical datum. 
It is no doubt most convenient for the in- 
tercourse of life, and for the pm'poses of 
conversation and reasoning, to have such 
symbolical abbreviations to represent our 



88 

ideas ; but it is a dearly bought convenience, 
if it cheats us out of the reality of heaven, by 
enabling us to converse about it, without 
thinking or feeling what it is. 

What wonderful love was that which 
brought Christ from heaven to earth to die 
for sinners ! Do we think of this wonder and 
feel it at all ? or when we speak of it even ? 
He is at this moment looking into our 
hearts. Oh what indifference he sees ! 
But I do not talk of gratitude ; I ask, is 
there in our minds even an idea of Christ's 
love every time that we speak its name? 
Have we an impression corresponding to 
the fact, that had it not been for that love, 
we should all be within a few hom's of eter- 
nal damnation ? Have we this impression 
when we speak of his atonement ? 

Let the reader pause here and ask him- 
self, how much of his religion is of this 
kind — how far his faith is conversant with 
words, and how far with things — ^how far it 
rests in mere symbols, and how far it em- 
braces the spirit and meaning. What ef- 
fect has your faith on your heart and con- 
duct ? If your faith is conversant with the 



89 

true things of the Gospel, your heart will 
be growing in humble and holy peace, and 
your conduct in conformity to the whole 
will of God. If these effects do not result 
from your faith, look again at the Gospel, 
for you have not yet come in contact with 
it. A poor, ignorant, naked savage, who 
knows and feels so much as this, that he is 
a sinner, that God hates sin and yet has 
mercy on the sinner, knows and believes 
more of the Gospel, than the most acute 
and most orthodox theologian, whose heart 
has never been touched by the love of 
God. 

No ; it is impossible really to have clear 
views of the Gospel, whilst the affections 
are muddy. What adequate impression 
can an impure mind have of the holy love 
of God ? Yet this is the chief attribute of 
God revealed in the Gospel. " Blessed are 
" the pure in heart, for they shall see God." 
The blessing here mentioned is not an ar- 
bitrary reward, irrespective of the charac- 
ter, to which it is promised. There is a 
connection between purity of heart and 
communion with God on earth, as well as 
the beatific vision hereafter. The purest 



90 



heart has the most correct faith, because it 
is susceptible of the truest impressions from 
holy love. It knows best what holy love 
means, and therefore it can believe best. 
Clear views of the Gospel do not consist in 
having our logical lines, all drawn accurate- 
ly from premises to conclusion, but in hav- 
ing distinct and vivid impressions of the 
moral facts of the Gospel, in all their mean- 
ing, and all their importance, accompanied 
with the strong conviction of their inde- 
pendent reality. 

But how is purity of heart to be attain- 
ed ? It can only be attained by faith, Acts 
XV. 9. So then, it may be answered, we 
cannot believe without purity of heart, and 
yet we can only have om' hearts purified by 
believing. There is, however, no contra- 
diction here. It is evident that we cannot 
believe in pure and holy love, unless we 
know what it is ; and our knowledge of 
this must be proportioned to the purity and 
strength of our own feelings. And yet these 
feelings can only be purified and strength- 
ened by being directed to pure objects, 
and by being much exercised by them. 
The Gospel is suited to man. He has 



91 



affections and principles corresponding to 
every address contained in it, although, 
from corruption and habitual misdirection, 
they may be, to a great degree, unmoved 
by these addresses. There is however, no 
other way of regenerating these misdirect- 
ed affections, but by bringing them in con- 
tact with their proper objects. There is no 
other resource,^ — we have no other means 
of operating on them. They retain to the 
last somewhat of their natural susceptibili- 
ty of impressions from their proper objects,, 
and therefore they ought to be assailed 
through these objects. And we have seen 
that the first address of the Gospel is to a 
principle, which continues strong and viva- 
cious in the midst of spiritual corruption 
and death, the instinctive desire of self-pre- 
servation and happiness. WTiilst, therefore, 
it is vain to expect really clear views of 
Gospel truth in an unholy mind, it is equal- 
ly hopeless to attempt the cultivation of 
holy affections in any other way than by 
exercising faith on the true character of 
God. These are two important errors, and 
their chief danger arises from their having 
so much of truth connected with them. 



92 



There is an aphorism quoted by that 
holy and heavenly-minded man, Archbishop 
Leighton, but from what author I do not 
recollect, which, under the form of paradox, 
contains most sober and valuable counsel : 
'^ If you would have much faith, love much : 
" and if you would have much love, believe 
" much." We cannot love unless we dis- 
cern amiableness, and this we can only do 
by the light of love. There is no puzzle in 
this. Every day we see cases analogous to 
it in common life. A man whose stomach 
has been ruined by artificial and highly ex- 
citing food, has no appetite for plain whole- 
some nourishment, and yet the only way to 
recover his appetite, is to take this plain 
nourishment. This food has a natural suit- 
ableness to his appetite, and this appetite 
has a natiu'al desire after such food, al- 
though that desire, from habitual misdi- 
rection, feels little excitement from it. As 
he takes the food, however, his appetite 
gets better, and as his appetite gets better, 
he takes more food. Thus the food and 
the appetite act and react upon each other, 
till the man's health is restored. Even so 



93 



a diseased soul has no appetite for the 
truths of the Gospel, and yet nothing but 
that truth can restore it to health. As the 
soul improves in health, its desire after its 
proper food increases ; that medicinal food 
gives additional health to the spiritual sys- 
tem, and this additional health is accom- 
panied by an increase of desire after the 
truth. 

Clear views of the character of God can 
exist only in minds whose affections are 
pure and strong, and properly directed ; 
and in perfect consistency with this, and as 
deeply rooted in the necessity of things, is 
the fact, that the affections can only be 
piu'ified and strengthened, and rightly di- 
rected, by being brought in contact with 
the truth. Thus perfect faith supposes 
perfect sanctification, and perfect sanctifi- 
cation supposes perfect faith. ^\liat else is 
the meaning of a holy mind, than that it 
delights in and feeds on holy things ? They 
are wrong who suppose, that the sanctifica- 
tion of a soul consists simply in the truth's 
abiding in it — and they also are wrong who 
suppose that a soul can be sanctified by 
any other means. An unholy soul has lit- 



94 



tie susceptibility of impressions from holy 
objects ; and although they have a natural 
suitableness to its affections, yet it is scarce- 
ly moved or stirred, when in contact with 
them, and when absent from them, feels no 
desire after them. Whereas a holy soul, 
in their absence, longs after them, and in 
their presence is increasingly susceptible of 
impressions from them ; and is at the same 
time increasingly unsusceptible of impres- 
sions from their opposites. 

This sanctification of the heart is evident- 
ly a progressive work, but the progress may 
be more or less rapid in different persons. 
One may advance more in an hour than 
another in a long life. An indolent appli- 
cation to the truth can produce but little 
sanctification, and so faith cannot increase. 
An admission of impressions from impro- 
per objects, deadens the affections towards 
the truth, and so faith retrogrades. Wilful 
sin blinds the understanding, and confirms 
the affections in their wrong bent, and in 
their insensibility to the Gospel, and so 
faith seems to die. The mercy of God, by 
the visitations of providence and the striv- 
ings of the Spirit, may keep the spark from 



95 

utter extinction ; but there is little progress 
made, little conformity to the will of God, 
and little enjoyment of his presence and fa- 
vour. But when a man feels his danger, 
and perceives the necessity of salvation in 
its full m-gency, he is prepared to yield to 
the Gospel mould ; he is convinced that his 
eternal all rests on this truth ; he therefore 
clings to it, and the closeness of his grasp 
insures the depth and truth of the impres- 
sion on his heart. 

We may believe that the spirit of an in- 
fant early removed from this world, a trophy 
of the cross, and carried to heaven, will be 
at once impressed by the beauties and glo- 
ries of the Divine character, and conformed 
to the same image by the knowledge of Him 
who is the spirit and meaning of the Gos- 
pel. But even in heaven there must be a 
progressive advancement. Greater know- 
ledge of God will produce greater resem- 
blance to him, and greater resemblance to 
him will increase the capacity of knowing 
him. It is the same on earth. A free and 
general pardon is proclaimed from heaven to 
the sinful children of men ; but it is con- 
veyed through the blood of atonement, a 



96 



channel which displays all the perfections of 
God. The heart of man is naturally op- 
posed to the holiness of the Divine charac- 
ter; and therefore until that character is seen 
to be in truth our only safety, our only sure 
happiness for time and eternity, we reject the 
proclamation. As soon, however, as we feel 
our danger and misery, and see the safety, 
and happiness guaranteed in the Divine 
character, as displayed in the cross of Christ, 
we listen to the proclamation with joy, and 
we come at the same time under the shade 
of its protection, and under the operation of 
its sanctifying power. And then the work 
of grace advances, just in proportion to the 
earnestness and constancy with which we 
cleave to and abide in the truth. 

We see, then, that as the mind dwells on 
this great theme, and as the affections are 
more exercised by its wonders, there will 
be a gradual dilatation of the whole moral 
system — that lighter and feebler impressions 
will give place to deeper and stronger — that 
the external symbols of words and actions 
will become more and more identified with 
the mighty realities of God and eternity — 
that religion, instead of being an interrupted 



97 



seeking after God, will become an unbroken 
communion with him^ a conformity to his 
image, and a participation of his joy. The 
lower orders of intelligent beings will thus 
be gradually pressing upwards in the scale 
of spiritual excellence, and filling the places 
which have been just left by the higher — 
and the whole family of God, led by this 
glorious light, will through eternity be ad- 
vancing nearer to their Father. 



98 



SECTION V. 

THE DESIGN OF FAITH. 

We shall be saved from much perplexity 
and error in our inquiries into the nature 
and exercise of faith, by keeping in mind 
what is its design or end. We are not 
commanded to believe merely for the sake 
of believing, or to show our ready submission 
to the will of God ; but because the objects 
which are revealed to us for our belief, have 
a natural tendency to produce a most im- 
portant and blessed change on our happi- 
ness and our characters. Every object which 
is believed by us operates on our characters 
according to its own natm'e. If, therefore, 
we have taken a wrong view of revelation, 
that wrong view will operate upon us, and 
produce a bad effect on our characters. This 
shows the importance of a correct know- 
ledge of the truth contained in revelation. 



99 



A man's character is formed by his habi- 
tual impressions or prevalent objects of 
thought and feeling. Let us suppose a per- 
son of good natural affections to have his 
mind occupied continually by the history of 
an injurious fraud which he believes to 
have been practised against him on some 
occasion. It is impossible that he can es- 
cape being miserable, and becoming morally 
depraved. His bad passions, by being con- 
stantly excited, must grow in strength and 
in susceptibility of similar impressions, and 
his happier affections, by being unexercised, 
must fade and die. Let us again suppose a 
man with less amiable natural qualities, 
whose life or fortune had been at one time 
saved by the self-sacrificing generosity of a 
friend. If this event makes such an im- 
pression on him, as to be more present to 
his thoughts than any other, it cannot fail 
of softening and improving his character, 
and increasing his happiness. His good 
affections are thus continually exercised, 
and must, therefore, be continually gaining 
strength, whilst bad passions are at the 
same time displaced. Of those who have 
acquired the character of misanthropes, pro- 
E 2 



100 

bably nine out of ten have, like Timon, been 
men of generons dispositions, who, having 
been deceived in friendship, have ever after 
looked on fair professions as the symbols of 
dishonest intentions. Their feelings of con- 
tempt and hatred, and wounded pride, be- 
ing thus continually exercised by this un- 
fortunate belief, the whole frame of their 
character has been ruined, and their peace 
of mind destroyed. And it is possible 
that, if we could look into the hearts of 
men, and trace their history, we might 
find some of the brightest examples of be- 
nevolence amongst those whose natural dis- 
positions were most opposite to it, but who 
had allowed the history of the Redeemer's 
love so to abide in them, that it had soften- 
ed and changed their hearts, and healed 
their diseased affections. 

Any circumstance to which we attach 
much importance, is naturally much present 
to our minds. And on this point there is as 
great room for deception as on any other. 
I have perhaps been unfortunate, or I have 
been injured, and I am distressed by it : 
but is this matter really of that importance 
which it assumes in my mind ? I may have 



101 

been correctly informed in all the particulars 
of this injury, which has been committed 
against me. I may not over-rate the ma- 
lice, or the fraud, or the baseness of the per- 
petrators. I therefore do not believe so far 
what is false. Yet I may attach a false im- 
portance to it. I may think it more mo- 
mentous than it really is ; and then nei- 
ther can my impression of the act be a just 
impression, nor my belief of it a correct be- 
lief. This is a question which we have 
often occasion to ask ourselves in the course 
of this world's events, and this is a judg- 
ment and a conclusion to which unbiassed 
reason must often conduct us. But vAien 
we come to speak of eternal things, the ques- 
tion must be put in another form. Do I 
attach to this matter the importance which 
really belongs to it ? Its importance I can- 
not but admit to be infinite; my all depends 
upon it for ever ; and yet it takes but slight 
bold of my mind. Surely then I do not un- 
derstand its importance ; and if so, I can- 
not believe its importance. I do not believe 
the thing as it is. 

Our minds then, receive an influence from 
every thing by which they are occupied, 
E 3 



102 

and according to the degree in which they 
are occupied by it, and this degree is de- 
termined by the importance which our feel- 
ings attribute to it. If then the importance 
of the Gospel is believed, it will occupy the 
mind much; and if it does so, it will keep 
the affections in healthy exercise, and a right 
direction. If it does not occupy our minds, 
its importance is not seen, and therefore its 
real nature is not believed. But objects 
assume importance in our minds, according 
to the relation which they bear to the ge- 
neral bent of our affections. Thus any 
event which promises either to increase or 
diminish his wealth, assumes great import- 
ance in the mind of an avaricious man. — 
The small importance, therefore, which is 
often attached to the Gospel, by those who 
may even have heard and read much about 
it, and profess to believe in it, arises from 
the circumstance of their affections having 
an opposite bent. There is something in 
the Gospel, and in the holy character of 
Him whose message it is, from which they 
shrink. No doubt this proceeds from their 
ignorance that happiness is a quality of ho- 
liness ; but this ignorance is not a guiltless 



103 

ignorance, nor is the unbelief connected 
with it a guiltless unbelief. They are the 
consequences of unholiness of heart. An 
unholy heart hates holiness, and therefore 
is blind to its excellence, and will not be- 
lieve that happiness is inseparable from it. 
Our unbelief of the Gospel, then, and of 
its importance, ought not to be regarded 
as an act for which we can never be mo- 
rally accountable, nor should it be spoken 
of as a mere misfortune. There is a moral 
guilt attached to it. It arises from a dis- 
cordance between the moral state of our 
minds, and the character of God which is 
exhibited in the Gospel. It arises from the 
depravity of our affections. And this de- 
pravity it is w^hich makes the work of the 
Spirit necessary. The things concerning 
Christ must be taken by the Spirit and 
shewn to the heart, and brought in contact 
with the affections, and kept there, before 
their inestimable preciousness can be felt 
or believed. But this depravity of our af- 
fections, and our absolute need of Divine 
assistance, are no excuses for unbelief. Sin 
consists in this depravity. If a man were 
guiltless because he acted under the in- 
E 4 



104 

fluence of a strong and overbearing moral 
depravity, then the more depraved we were, 
the less guilty we should be. There is a 
great difference between moral necessity 
and natural necessity. We never say that 
a blind man ought to see, because we know 
that he lies under a natural inability ; but 
we say that an unfeeling man ought to feel, 
and that an implacable man ought to for- 
give and forget injuries, because he lies un- 
der no natural disability to do so, but only 
under the moral disability of his own cor- 
rupt heart, which is the very thing which 
constitutes his culpability. God loves right 
so perfectly, that he cannot sin ; he lies 
under the necessity of his own moral attri- 
butes to do always what is good, and in this 
moral necessity does his infinite excellence 
consist. A sinner loves sin so well, that 
he cannot but sin : and in this moral ne- 
cessity does his culpability consist. This 
moral necessity to evil is formed by the 
misdirection of the affections, and it be- 
comes stronger and stronger by every act 
in subordination to it. It is the mark of 
perdition upon the soul. But how is this 
fearful barrier to be broken down ? By no 



105 

other means is it possible, but by bringing 
the affections into contact with the high and 
holy /Objects of eternity. This is the true 
philosopher's stone, which converts the iron 
fetters of sin into a golden chain of love, 
binding the heart to God and heaven. The 
most hardened sinner has yet some con- 
science left. He knows that all is not 
quite right, and hence he has occasional 
fears that all is not quite safe. This sense 
of sin, and these fears, if he allows them to 
operate on his mind, would lead him to the 
Gospel, and there would he find a cure. 
Every man can judge tolerably well for 
another, how he ought to act or feel in par- 
ticular circumstances ; and this same judg- 
ment must sometimes take cognizance of his 
own conduct and feelings. Even that very 
self-love which so often gives a wrong direc- 
tion to our conduct, shows us what is due to 
others, by its demands in our own favour. 

Moral ignorance, therefore, is never in- 
nocent ; though it is more or less aggravat- 
ed according to the opportunities of moral 
knowledge which have been neglected. A 
inan who rejects the Gospel when it is 
presented to him in its truth and simplici-^ 
E 5 



106 

ty, is in a very different situation from a 
man who has either never heard it at all, 
or has heard it accompanied by absurd su- 
perstitions. The one has fairly been con- 
fronted by a message of holy love, and what 
he cannot help suspecting to have some 
strong claim vipon his attention and re- 
gards, and he has turned his back upon it. 
This of course gives an additional firmness 
and acrimony to the opposition which his 
mind feels for it. Its presence in some de- 
gree rebuked him, and this he cannot suf- 
fer without irritation. The others, who ne- 
ver heard the Gospel at all, or never heard 
it intelligibly, cannot have the same acri- 
mony of opposition to it. Besides, they 
may have learned, perhaps, by the teach- 
ing of the Spirit, that truth concerning the 
Divine character which is revealed in the 
testimony of conscience, and in the works 
of creation and providence ; and in this 
case they would receive the Gospel if they 
heard it ; for true natural religion is elemen-^ 
tary Christianity. 

The perception then of the importance 
of the Gospel is not only essential to the 
correctness of our knowledge and belief of 
4 



107 

it, but it is necessary also in order to the 
accomplishment of its great design in our 
hearts. Unless the truth is much present 
to our affections, unless it abides in us, it 
cannot influence om' characters. And un- 
less we feel its importance, it will not abide in 
us. That Christianity is not worthy of the 
name, which just chooses a particular day 
in the week, or a particular hour in the day, 
for itself, and leaves the rest of the time 
and the duties of life to the influence of 
other principles. It ought to be in us, as 
a well of water springing up unto eternal 
life ; its joy, its hope, its love, should be 
ever cheering the heart, purifying the affec- 
tions, and stimulating the conduct. It ought 
to be the root, from which the duties of life, 
in all their branches, should derive their 
life and vigom-. The great truths of reve- 
lation should be ever present with us, that 
we may be assimilated to their principles, 
and preserved from opposite impressions. 
We are invited to walk with God, to walk 
in the light of his countenance, to take him 
for our portion, and hiding-place, and ex- 
ceeding joy, and under the shadow of his 
wings to make om' refuge until all calami- 
e6 



108 

ties be overpast. He has been pleased to 
illustrate his relation to us by all the most 
endearing ties of nature, that we may more 
easily and constantly realize his presence. 
He has presented himself even to our 
senses, clothed in our nature, walking and 
conversing as a man amongst men, fulfilling 
all the offices and suffering all the sorrows 
of life, that we might think of him not 
only without terror and strangeness, but 
even with respectful confidence and inti- 
macy. In the work of atonement, he has 
given a tangible form to the high attributes 
of Deity — he has made them there stand 
forth before our eyes in the substantial rea- 
lity of living action, and at the same time 
in all their grandeur and loveliness, — he 
has rendered them intelligible to our un- 
derstandings, without lowering their dig- 
nity, — he has fitted them to address the 
feelings of human nature, whilst they call 
forth the praise and the rapture of angels 
who surround the throne. And in the lan^ 
guage of his word, in its rich and beautiful 
variety of parables, and allegories, and poe- 
tical allusions, what is the object in nature^ 
which has not been employed to explain 



109 

and illustrate his truth ? He has thus, so 
to speak, written his name upon every 
thing that surrounds us. And are they 
not all his works ? Ought they not to de- 
clare his glory ? God hath thus enveloped 
us with his glory, — he hath made himself 
our dwelling-place — and all this, that our 
thoughts and our affections may rest upon 
Him, that we may feed upon his love, that we 
may be conformed to his likeness, and that 
we may enter into his joy. And is it possible 
for us, in such circumstances, to forget God ? 
He even embitters other things, that we 
may be drawn to himself — ^lie takes away 
an earthly friend, that we may be led to a 
Friend from whom nothing can separate us, 
— our hopes are blasted here, that we may 
learn to plant them in a soil where nothing 
dies — he arms sin with remorse, that we 
may be persuaded that it is a bitter thing 
to depart from God. 

If it were possible to believe in the 
Gospel without remembering it, such faith 
would be of no use ; but the belief of its 
importance fixes it in the heart. The 
moral effects of it on the character, con- 
stitute the great reason of its being urg- 
ed on our belief. We are not to think 



110 

that pardon is created by believing the 
Gospel, as if faith were the ground of for- 
giveness. No ; the Gospel itself is the 
proclamation of pardon through the perfect 
atonement of Christ, and it is the belief of 
the all-sufficiency of this proclaimed ground 
of pardon remaining in the memory, and 
operating on the heart, which makes meet 
for the inheritance of the saints in light» 
The apostle Peter, accordingly, in his second 
epistle, stii-s up the pure minds of Christ- 
ians by way of remembrance, and presses 
upon their attention truths with which he 
knew they were acquainted. In the 9th 
verse of the 1st chapter, he ascribes the 
deficiency in Christian virtues and graces, 
to a forgetfulness of the atonement, that 
great work in the belief of which they had 
before found deliverance from guilt. " He 
" that lacks these things is blind, shutting 
" his eyes, and forgetting that by which he 
" was formerly washed from his sins.'' The 
knowledge of the atonement it was, which 
first produced these qualities in the heart, 
and it is the continued remembrance of the 
atonement which alone can keep them in 
life, and strengthen and expand them. All 



Ill 

things pertaining to life and godliness, lie 
says, are given to us in the knowledge of 
him who hath called us to glory and vir- 
tue. And hence, when we forget him, we 
lose the things which pertain to life and 
godliness. 

It may be proper here to give a more ex- 
tended illustration from scripture of the 
sanctifying influence of the truth, as the 
end and design of faith. According to the 
scriptures, moral obedience is produced not 
by a knowledge of the law, but by faith in 
the Gospel. And for this end has the Gos- 
pel been revealed and faith in it been re- 
quired. In the Epistle to Titus, ii. 11. it 
is said, that " the grace or forgiving mer- 
'^ cy of God, that bringeth salvation or a 
" cure, hath appeared unto all men, teach- 
" ing us that, denying ungodliness and 
" worldly lusts, we should live soberly, 
" righteously, and godly in this present 
'' world." Now the forgiving mercy of 
God is not a precept ; it does not produce 
these effects by authority, but by its natu- 
ral influence it moulds the character into 
this form. But it can only do so whilst it 
is remembered. In the next chapter of the 



112 

same Epistle, Paul exhorts Titus to incul- 
cate upon the Cretans an attention to the 
relative duties of life ; and then, as if to 
remove his despondency of success, he re- 
minds him, that all the most advanced 
Christians had been themselves but a short 
time before in a state of enmity to God and 
man, and that they had been delivered from 
this state only by the knowledge of the 
kindness and love of God our Saviour. 
Then, in the 8th verse, " This is a faith- 
" ful saying," and these doctrines (of free 
grace, contained in the four preceding 
verses) " I will that thou affirm constantly, 
'' in order that they who have believed God 
'' in this matter, may be careful to main- 
" tain good works ;" or, in order that the 
same good effects which have been pro- 
duced in us by the belief of this Gospel, 
may also be produced in them. " These 
" doctrines are good and profitable in their 
" effects on the characters of men. But 
" avoid doctrines of a different description, 
" foolish questions and genealogies, and 
" contentions and strivings about the law ; 
'' for they are unprofitable and vain ; they 
" can have no salutary effect upon the 



113 

'^ character." In our English translation, 
" these things," in the last clause of the 8th 
verse, seem to refer to the good works men- 
tioned immediately before ; but this sense 
is not consistent with the context. The 
'• good and profitable" things of the 8th 
verse, are opposed evidently to the " unpro- 
" fitable and vain" things of the following 
verse. And what are these unprofitable 
and vain things ? Xot had icorks, which 
they must have been, had the other been 
good works ; but foolish questions and ge-- 
nealogies, and contentions and strivings 
about the law ; all of them disputes about 
doctrine, which indicates that the other 
things are doctrines also, but differing from 
them in their tendency and importance. 
Besides, the tenor of the Apostle's reason- 
ing through the chapter requires this inter- 
pretation. Titus was appointed to labour 
among a people, in whom there were 
many things to be reprehended and " re- 
buked sharply." But in the midst of 
these discouragements, Paul cheers him by 
displaying the power and efficacy of that 
Gospel which he was commissioned to 
teach. He reminds him of their own for- 



114 

mer state and character, and of the. change 
which had been produced in them, by the 
knowledge of the free grace of God through 
Christ Jesus. " Knowing then and feeling 
that it was this great truth alone which 
made you a friend and a servant of God, 
from being his enemy, cease not continually 
to inculcate it upon the Cretans, and be as-^ 
sured that wherever it is received it will 
produce the same effects. It is the confi- 
dence which I have in its salutary tenden- 
cy, which makes me prize it, and preach it, 
and urge others to preach it. And it is the 
conviction, that disputes about the obser-^ 
vance of Jewish rites, and speculative and 
unpractical arguments upon religious sub- 
jects, cannot, in the nature of things, pro- 
duce any good effects upon the character ; 
which makes me avoid them myself, and 
desirous that you should do so too. If I 
thought that such questions could purify 
the heart, I should propose them in every 
assembly ; but their tendency is to irritate 
and darken, and not, like the doctrine 
of the cross, to enlighten, and purify, and 
tranquillize." 



Hi 



SECTION VI. 



THE DESIGN OF FAITH CONSIDERED AS A 
TEST OF THE CORRECTNESS OF FAITH. 

We have tliiis a simple scriptural test, 
by which we may try all the views and in- 
terpretations of Christian doctrine. Are 
they good and profitable in their influence 
on the heart and conduct ? If they have 
not this tendency, if the impressions natu- 
rally made by them are not of this descrip- 
tion, we may be assured that we have mis- 
taken the doctrine. 

Thus, if the view which we take of the 
doctrine of election, or a particular provi- 
dence, be such a one as leads us to be ne- 
gligent in our callings, or to consider our- 
selves free from moral responsibility, we 
may be sure that this is a wrong view, be- 
cause it cannot be good or profitable to the 
characters of men. 



116 

The doctrine of election is just another 
name for the doctrine of free grace. It 
teaches that all men are under deserved 
condemnation, and therefore can have no 
claim on God for pardon ; and that this, 
and all other mercies, are the gifts of his 
oivnfree hountij and choice. It thus teaches 
us humility and gratitude, by impressing 
us with the conviction that we are debtors 
to God's unmerited bounty, not only for the 
gift of Christ and the knowledge of it, but 
also for the influence of the Spirit which 
inclines our hearts to accept it. 

The doctrine of a particular providence 
teaches, that the same God who gave his 
Son to save us, orders every event in our 
lot. The belief of this will dispel worldly 
fears and anxieties, and inspire confidence, 
and impress with a continued sense of the 
Divine presence : and far from producing 
carelessness, or recklessness with regard to 
the duties and the circumstances of life, it 
will draw forth the most attentive, and sen- 
sitive, and humble vigilance ; for it disco- 
vers to us the finger of God in every thing, 
small or great, sorrowful or joyful. 



117 

It is possible that the doctrine of the 
perseverance of the saints should be so per- 
verted by the corruption of human nature, 
as to lead to indolent security and un- 
watchful habits. But this is not the doc- 
trine as stated in the Bible. The true 
doctrine is, that as it was God who first 
opened the eyes of sinners to the giorv 
o( the truth, so their continuance in the 
truth requires and receives the same almigh- 
ty support to maintain it. It is not in 
their title to heaven, as distinct from the 
path to heaven, that they are maintained, 
and persevere. No ; they '^ are kept by 
" the power of God, through faith unto 
" salvation." This doctrine then really 
leads to humble dependence on God, as the 
only support of our weakness ; and to vigi- 
lance, from the knowledge that, when v/e 
are not actually living by faith, we are out 
of that way, in which believers are kept 
by the power of God\mto salvation. The 
reality of our faith is proved only by our 
persevei'ance ; if we do not persevere, we 
are not saints. 

Any view of the doctrine of the atone- 
ment which can make us fearless or care- 
less of sinning must be a wrong view, be- 



118 

cause it is not good nor profitable to men. 
That blessed doctrine declares sin pardon- 
ed, not because it is overlooked or winked 
at, but because the weight of its condemna- 
tion has been sustained on our behalf by 
our elder Brother and Representative. This 
makes sin hateful, by connecting it with 
the blood of our best Friend. 

There are many persons who may be said 
rather to believe in an ecclesiastical polity, 
than in the doctrines of the Bible. In such 
cases the impression must be similar to that 
which is produced by political partizanship 
in the governments of this world. And 
there are some whose faith extends to higher 
things, who yet attach too much weight to 
externals. 

Any view of subjects that may be be- 
lieved or disbelieved without affecting our 
faith in the atonement, which can produce a 
coldness or unkindness between those who 
rest on the atonement, and live by the faith 
of it, must be a wrong view, because it mars 
that character of love which Christ declares 
to be the badge of his people. Such a view 
interferes with the doctrine of the atone- 
ment. Love to Christ, as the exclusive 



119 

hope and the compassionate all-sufficient 
friend of lost sinners, is the life-blood of the 
Christian family ; and wherever it flows, it 
carries along with it, relationship to Christ, 
and a claim on the affection of those who 
call themselves his. "What is a name or a 
sect, that it should divide those who are to 
live together in heaven through eternity, 
and who here love the same Lord, and w^ho 
have been washed in the same blood, and 
drink of the same river of the water of life, 
and have access through the same Media- 
tor by the same Spirit unto the Father ! 
This is a very serious consideration. It 
touches on that final sentence which shall 
be pronounced on the sheep and the goats : 
'' Come, ye blessed ;" why blessed ? " In 
" as much as ye did it to one of the least of 
these my hi^etliren^ ye did it unto meT 
Depart, ye cursed ;" and why cursed ? 
" In as much as ye did it not to one of the 
'' least of these, ye did it not to me." It is 
not a general benevolence that is talked of 
here ; no, it is love to Christ exerting itself 
in kindness, and acts of kindness to his bre- 
thren for his sake. This is the grand and 
pre-eminently blessed feature of the Christ- 



120 

ian character. Its presence, is the seal of 
heaven on the soul ; its absence, is the ex- 
clusion from heaven. We should take heed 
to ourselves ; for any flaw in this respect 
marks a corresponding flaw in our Christ- 
ian faith. The importance of the blood of 
Christ is not rightly perceived, if it does 
not quench these petty animosities. God 
is love, and he that dwelleth in love, dwell- 
eth in God, and God in him. An undue 
importance attached to inferior points is 
surely not good or profitable to men. 

We take a wrong view of the Gospel if we 
suppose that any moral qualifications what- 
ever are required on our part, to entitle us to 
believe on Christ unto salvation. No one, it 
is true, will ask supply without a sense of 
need ; that is not however, a necessary qua- 
lification, but an exciting cause. A man will 
not ask for food unless he feels hungry, but 
he has full liberty to ask it without feeling 
hungry. So also no one will look to Christ 
for happiness, unless he is in some degree 
sensible of wretchedness ; nor for pardon, 
unless he is in some degree convinced of his 
guilt. But these are only exciting causes, not 
entitling qualifications. In the same way, 



121 

no one will come without the teaching and 
leading of the Holy Spirit ; but this is not 
a necessary qualification either, but only 
an exciting cause. That is to say, no one 
is commanded to delay believing on Christ, 
until he is influenced by the Spirit ; on the 
contrary, the command to repent and be- 
lieve the Gospel is universal, and calls for 
immediate obedience, which proves that it 
is in the natural power of all men to do so, 
and that their inability is a moral, and 
therefore a criminal inability. The ground 
on which pardon is proclaimed through 
Christ, is a thing independent altogether of 
our believing in it, because it is firm and 
sufficient in itself whether we believe in it 
or not. The sentence has been already ex- 
ecuted on the Surety, and the prison-door 
has been thrown open ; but if we refuse to 
come out, we exclude ourselves from the 
benefit of it. The Sun of mercy is risen 
with healing in his beams, but if we 
will not open our eyes, we may not know 
that he is risen, and thus we may exclude 
ourselves from the light of life. As soon, 
however, as we open our eyes, we know that 
it is light ; and as soon as we understand 
and believe the Gospel, we know that we 
F 



122 

are pardoned : I mean, when the truth is 
clearly understood and firmly believed, and 
when its native influence is not prevented 
by bodily disease, or the perplexing influ- 
ence of human systems. The first scriptur- 
al consolation received by the believer, aris- 
es from his conviction that the Gospel it- 
self is true, and the measure of his comfort 
corresponds with the strength and steadi- 
ness of his faith. Such is the nature of this 
revelation, that he who is taught its true 
glory must be convinced that God would 
neither have proclaimed it to the world nor 
have done the great thing that is made 
known in it, had he not designed to save 
all who come to the knowledge of it The 
declaration of heaven, that he who be- 
lieves shall be saved, confirms this view 
of the grand object of the work of the 
Saviour ; but even without such a declara- 
tion, the man who, conscious of sin and mise- 
ry, really believed that God had become man, 
and had suffered sorrow and death that the 
sinful and miserable might be saved, could 
not doubt of the abundant mercy of God, 
nor of his own salvation. After such an 
act of love, the wonder is that any should 
be lost, and not that the unworthy should 



123 

be saved. Many clog the freeness of the 
Gospel, from the fear of antinomianism ; 
but this is itself a most dangerous species 
of antinomianism. The law of God is writ- 
ten in the heart by no other instrument but 
the free mercy of the Gospel. The pardon 
has been proclaimed simply, in order that 
the power and influence of sin may be over- 
come; we are therefore falsifying the re- 
cord, and undoing its purpose, if we teach 
men to cast off their sins as a preparatory 
work pre^dous to believing, and in order that 
they may accept of the pardon. The com- 
mand to " Repent and believe," means no- 
thing more than that we should change our 
former views for those which the Gospel 
presents to us. Repentance means a change 
of mind, and therefore it necessarily accom- 
panies a new belief. T^Tien we take new 
views, we must make a change, we must 
leave our old ones. We may say, " Arise 
'' and depart," though we know that the 
person cannot depart without arising. But 
the real sorrow of the heart, on account of 
sin, can arise only from the sense of the 
amazing contrast between the subduing 
and overwhelming mercy of God and our 
F 2 



124 

un worthiness. It is when we look on him 
whom we have pierced, that we mourn 
truly; and it is when we know that God 
is pacified towards us, for all that we have 
done, that we remember and are confound- 
ed, Zech. xii. 10. Ezek. xvi. 63. When 
the Lord said to Peter, " Lovest thou me?" 
he could answer that he did, and could ap- 
peal to his knowledge of the secrets of the 
heart for the truth of what he said ; and it 
was this love which made him weep bitterly, 
when his Master's eye caught his, after 
he had denied him. We may, without 
faith in Christ, regard the consequences of 
sin with dislike and apprehension ; and we 
may even feel it to be a pollution to the 
dignity of our nature ; but our hearts can 
never loathe it for its own sake, until we 
see it connected with the blood of him who 
loved us and gave himself for us. It is 
not health, but disease, that we carry to 
the physician ; and it is not any moral good, 
but sin and sorrow, that we must carry to 
the Saviour. It seems to have been the 
purpose of God, in adapting the first ap- 
peal of the Gospel to the mere natural sense 
of misery, and the instinctive craving after 



125 

happiness, to make it impossible to attach 
any merit to faith, beyond what is attached 
to the desire a child feels for his mother's 
milk. 

The absolute freeness of grace must be 
preached, in order to make the Gospel good 
and profitable to men. If man is required 
to bring any thing to the Saviour^ he is 
not utterly lost, he has something to bring ; 
or, in other words, sin is not so very sinful, 
and man hath whereof to glory even before 
God. The more freely grace is proclaim- 
ed, the more deeply sin is condemned ; and 
it is the belief of having much forgiven, 
that compels the heart to love much. Love 
therefore, which is the fulfilling of the law, 
has its source in free grace. Oh the pre- 
sumptuous vanity of men, who would dream 
of inventing a defence for the interests of 
holiness, better and securer than that which 
God himself has appointed ! That very pa- 
rable which I have quoted from the conclu- 
sion of the 7th chapter of Luke, is answer 
suflficient to all objections against the doc- 
trine of grace, in point both of fact and of 
argument. This is a position which can^ 
not be pressed too much. It is no less 



126 

strong in reason than in revelation, and its 
wisdom is as demonstrable on the acknow- 
ledged principles of the human mind, as 
the fact of its existence in the Bible is de- 
monstrable on the acknowledged principles 
of fair interpretation. 

It is possible to believe not only in the 
facts, but also in the system of Christianity 
as a philosophical theory, and yet be desti- 
tute of faith in the truth. There is some- 
thing very striking in the relative suitable- 
ness which exists between the susceptibili- 
ty of the human mind to receive certain 
impressions, ^id the power of Christian 
truth to make an impression; and it is 
conceivable that a man may be captivated 
by this intellectual and moral harmony, and 
take much pleasure in tracing it through 
all its detail, and yet derive no more profit 
from it, than from the examination of any 
curious piece of material mechanism. This 
can be easily explained. The object of his 
belief is not the Gospel itself, but the adap- 
tation of the Gospel to its purpose. This 
is the shape which the idea of the Gospel 
assumes in his mind, and from this he 
derives his impression of it. He avows 
his belief of the facts contained in the sa- 



127 

cred history, and he distinctly perceives the 
moral qualities manifested in them ; but he 
does not consider them as things existing 
by themselves, and independent of all hu- 
man reasoning upon them. He is occu- 
pied by the metaphysics of religion as the 
formalist is occupied by the ceremonies. 
He considers the facts and principles of re- 
velation simply in their philosophical rela- 
tion to those feelings which they address in 
human nature ; he is therefore impressed, 
not with the condescending goodness of God, 
but with the skill which appears in the 
adaptation of the manifestation of that good- 
ness to the moral defects of man. 

A philosophical critic would have had 
much delight in remarking the skill with 
which Demosthenes selected his topics and 
arguments, so as to excite those feelings in 
his audience which were favourable to 
his own cause ; but this philosophical de- 
light left his passions unmoved, and his 
conduct uninfluenced. It was the ora- 
tor's wish to gain his cause, and this he 
could only do by moving the affections and 
convincing the judgment of the Athenians. 
But the affections could not be moved, nor 
F 4 



128 

the judgment convinced, unless his state- 
ments and arguments were received as sub- 
stantial truth in themselves, altogether in- 
dependent of philosophical relation and 
harmony. Had he delivered a critical ana- 
lysis of his famous oration for the crown, 
instead of the oration itself, it is probable 
that he, and not Eschines, would have been 
exiled. It is proper that this beautiful re- 
lation should be seen and admired ; but if 
it comes to be the prominent object of be- 
lief, the great truth of Christianity is not be- 
lieved. A teacher of religion, who should 
fill his discourses with the delineation of this 
relation, might be a very entertaining and 
interesting preacher, but it is probable that 
he would not make many converts to Christ- 
ianity. Our affections are excited by hav- 
ing corresponding objects presented to 
them, not by observing that there does exist 
such a relation between the affections and 
their objects. A man under the sentence 
of death may well and naturally rejoice 
when he hears that he is pardoned ; but it 
will be no consolation to him to be inform- 
ed, that there is a natural connection be- 
tween receiving a pardon in such circum- 



129 

stances, and rejoicing. As the blood flowed 
no better through Harvey's veins than it 
does through the veins of many who never 
heard of the theory of circulation; so an ac- 
quaintance with the relation which subsists 
between moral impressions and their ex- 
citing causes does not give the philosopher 
any advantage, in point of moral suscepti- 
bility, over the peasant who never heard of 
such a relation. 

As it is possible to believe in the philo- 
sophy of the Bible, without believing in its 
substantial truth; it is also possible to be- 
lieve in its poetry, without any saving con- 
sequences. There is much high poetry in 
the Bible. There is a sublime in the God 
set forth in it, altogether unrivalled ; there 
is a strange and beautiful combination of 
overwhelming omnipotence, and the s v/eet- 
est tenderness ; there is an intimacy of 
union and endearment spoken of between 
this God and his ci^eatures^ which, when 
striptof all that is offensive to nature, may 
take a strong hold of the imaginative fa- 
culties, and give a high species of enjoy- 
ment to the mind. But the most important 
part of religion in relation. to sinners is not 
f5 



130 

poetical, and that is its necessity. The 
Gospel has not been revealed that we may 
have the pleasure of feeling or expressing 
fine sentiments, but that we may be saved. 
Peter knew this well, when, in reply to his 
Master's question, " will ye also go away?" 
he said, " Lord, to whom can we go ? thou 
hast the words of eternal life." He makes 
no expressions of generous devotedness, — 
he knows that he is paying no compliment, 
— no, it was absolute necessity that bound 
him to his Saviom\ The taste may receive 
the impression of the beauty and sublimity 
of the Bible, and the nervous system may 
have received the impression of the tender- 
ness of its tone, and yet its meaning — its 
deliverance — its mystery of holy love, may 
remain unknown. Alas, that a pleasing 
reverie should ever be mistaken for the 
counterpart of the Divine character in the 
heart of man ! The person whom I am sup- 
posing, believes in the simplicity, and beau- 
ty, and awful magnificence, of the revealed 
system of religion, and in the touching pro- 
priety of the form under which it has been 
communicated. But he does not under- 
stand it as a thing on which the alterna- 



131 

tive of his own happiness or misery through 
eternity depends. He does not under- 
stand it as exhibiting to him the character 
of that Being who deals out to him every 
breath that he draws, and appoints for him 
every event which he meets in the race of 
his existence ; who surrounds him continu- 
ally, and from whose enveloping presence 
he can never retire himself for an instant 
through eternity; who marks every passing 
thought and dawning desire, and who will 
for all these bring him one day into judg- 
ment ; he does not understand the Gospel 
as a message from heaven, inviting him, 
through the atonement of Christ, to ap- 
proach this great Being as a gracious Fa- 
ther, from whose love nothing but his own 
obstinate apostacy can separate him; who 
has promised to make all things work to- 
gether for good to his children; and who, by 
this message of mercy, has converted the 
appalling attributes of his infinite nature 
into reasons of filial confidence. Unless 
the history of the past facts of the Christ- 
ian system be connected with its present 
importance; unless the work finished on 
Calvary be perceived in its relation to the 
t6 



132 

personal fears and hopes of ourselves as in- 
dividuals ; we do not understand, and there- 
fore cannot believe the Gospel. 

There is a belief in Christianity as a sub- 
ject of controversy, which deserves a severer 
censure than merely that it is incapable of 
doing any moral good. The great facts of 
revelation are not the object of which this 
belief is the impression. The real object 
of faith in a believer of this order is, that 
his view is right, and that of his opponents 
wrong. The impression from this object 
is naturally approbation of himself and con- 
tempt of others. 

A man who forms a judgment upon any 
subject on reasonable grounds, cannot but 
believe that an opposite judgment is wrong 
— if he does not believe this, he has form- 
ed no judgment on the matter. But this 
ought not to be the prominent object of be- 
lief. If it be, the character is ruined. There 
is not in the ^vorld a more hateful thing, 
than to see the Gospel of Jesus Christ con- 
verted into a i3iece of ambitious scholarship, 
or of angry contention — an angel of light 
and peace, transformed into the demon of 
pride, of darkness and discord. But the 
person who falls into this sinful calami- 



133 

ty, does not believe the Gospel ; he be- 
lieves in his own superiority and intelligence, 
and in another's inferiority and ignorance. 
These are his objects, and fatal must their 
impression be. The object presented to our 
faith in the Gospel, is the character of God 
manifested in Jesus Christ, as the just God 
and yet the Saviour. It is the remission of 
sins through the blood of atonement shed 
for us by love unutterable. It is God in our 
nature standing on our behalf as our elder 
Brother and Representative, bearing the 
punishment which we had deserved, satis- 
fying the law which we had broken, and on 
the ground of this finished work, proclaim- 
ing sin forgiven, and inviting the chief and 
the most wretched of sinners to become a 
happy child of God for ever and ever. This 
object is presented to our belief, not as a 
theme of polemical discussion, but that it 
may stamp on our souls its own image, the 
likeness of God. 

The precepts of Scripture describe accu- 
rately the effect which this faith will pro- 
duce on the character. We are thus taught 
to refer the defects in our character to cor- 
responding defects in our faith. We have 
either originally received an erroneous im- 



134 

pression of the Gospel, that is to say, we 
Tiave misunderstood it, or else we have al- 
lowed, by forgetfulness, the right impression 
to die away. The doctrine of the atonement 
is the great spiritual mould from which the 
living form of the Christian character is to 
derive its features. Did we but fully and 
thoroughly yield ourselves to this mould, 
though we had never heard of the precepts, 
our hearts would present an exact tally or 
counterpart to them. But as our deceit- 
ful hearts are prone to leave this true mould 
of holiness and happiness, and to receive op- 
posite impressions from the perishing things 
about us, it has pleased God to describe to 
us what we ought to be, as well in duty to 
Him as for our own peace, that by daily 
comparing ourselves with his law, we may 
daily see not only how greatly we need the 
hlood which cleanseth from sin, but also how 
far our moral features are from the form of 
the Gospel mould, and how unsteady and 
unfrequent om' view must have been of that 
truth which sanctifieth. 

We are thus instructed also, to bring our 
views of doctrine, to the test of precept. If 
any view which is taken of the Gospel, does 
not naturally produce on the mind that 



135 

impression which is described in the pre- 
cepts, it is evidently an incorrect view. 
Thus joy and love are commanded by the 
precepts ; does our view of the doctrines na- 
turally tend to produce these sentiments in 
us independently of our knowledge of the 
precepts and our efforts to obey them ? This 
is a most important question, and it calls 
for a careful and honest investigation on the 
part of each individual. We shall illustrate 
it a little farther, that we may not be mis- 
understood. Christians are commanded to 
rejoice alway ; and in the history which is 
given of them, we find that they did rejoice 
with joy unspeakable and full of glory. 
Now, we are certain that they could not re- 
joice merely because they were commanded 
to do so. A precept of this kind could not 
possibly enforce or elicit obedience to itself. 
The great use of the precept therefore is, 
that we may by it, as by a test, try whether 
our view of the Gospel is a right view, and 
whether our application to it is steady and 
constant. And this joy in the first Christ- 
ians was not the result of a long process — 
they rejoiced as soon as they heard the Gos- 
pel, and continued rejoicing as long as they 



136 

lived. Their joy, therefore, did not proceed 
from the observation of any moral improve- 
ment which had taken place in themselves ; 
there was no time for that ; but it proceed- 
ed from their perceiving that the Gospel 
contained good news, perfectly adapted to 
persons in their circumstances of sin and 
sorrow. They perceived in it an announce- 
ment of pardon and favour from God to sin- 
ners, on account of a great work which pre- 
served from all stain the Divine holiness^ 
and which magnified the law and made it 
honourable. Whoever understands this, and 
believes it, must, from the nature of things, 
rejoice, if he knows himself to be a sinner^ 
unless the spring of the mind is clogged or 
deranged by the disease of the body. A 
condemned criminal must rejoice in a par- 
don, unless he thinks that death is no evil, 
and life no blessing. But it is impossible 
that any one can think eternal misery no 
evil, or eternal happiness no blessing. And 
deliverance from the one, and an entrance 
into the other, are embraced in the announce- 
ment of the Gospel. " This is the testi- 
"^ mony that God hath given to us eternal 
" life, and this life ia in his Son," 1 John 



137 

V. 11. A want of joy must then proceed 
from some defect in the view which we take 
of the Gospel, or from the mifrequency of 
our viewing it, and the admission of oppo- 
site impressions from other things. If we 
wish to see the reflection of an object in a 
mirror, the object must be present to the 
mirror ; so if we wish to rejoice, we must 
have the jayful object present to our minds. 
An attempt to feel the joy of the Gospel 
when the testimony af the Gospel is not 
present to our minds, is like an attempt to 
have an object reflected in a miiTor, with- 
out presenting them to each other. 

We are commanded to love God with all 
our hearts, and to hate sin and flee from it. 
Examine then whether your view of the 
Gospel is fitted to produce this result. For 
it is not by the direct attempt to excite and 
work up in ourselves these affections, that 
we can ever hope, in the nature of things, 
to render an acceptable obedience to this 
precept. For who can love, by endea- 
vouring to love ; or hate^ by endeavour- 
ing to hate ? No : We are not left to such 
a thankless task. In the Gospel, a view of 
God is presented which allures the love of 



138 

the heart, and calls forth its horror and in- 
dignation against whatever opposes His 
holy will. The law is written in oiu' hearts 
by the belief of the Gospel. If our hearts 
really came in contact with the whole of 
the Gospel, the impression would be the 
whole of the law ; and we may determine 
how much of the Gospel we are yet stran- 
gers to, by observing how much of the law 
is yet unwritten in our hearts. 

This is not only a just way of trying doc- 
trines, it is also the true method of self-exami- 
nation. The distance which lay between the 
throne of the universe and the death of the 
cross, is the measure at once of the love of 
God, and of the danger and guilt of sin. If there 
is not an impression on our hearts of holy 
love to God and of abhorrence of sin, it is 
because we either have a wrong view of the 
work of Christ, or because we do not view 
it at all. Let then the discovery of our 
spiritual deficiencies teach us to study the 
truth as it is in Jesus more attentively, and 
to cleave more closely to it ; and let it also 
constrain us to be instant in prayer for the 
aid of the Holy Spirit, whose office and pre- 
rogative it is to show the truth to the 



139 

hearts of men. For without his precious 
aid the truth cannot be perceived nor felt, 
and therefore cannot be believed. The at- 
tempt to cleave to the truth independent- 
ly of divine aid, is as fruitless as the at- 
tempt to obey the precepts without a know- 
ledge of the truth. This assistance is pro- 
mised in answer to prayer; and the first 
fruit of its operation on the heart is the 
perception of the truth. 

We are standing on the brink of eter- 
nity ; in a few days we shall be launched 
into it. Let us look over the precipice be- 
fore we make the awful plunge. It is a dark 
and untried region. Do you see any light, 
or will you commit yourself to chance ? 
Oh, in the midst of that obscm-ity, there 
shines a bright Star, which, even whilst we 
gaze on it, sends its own blessed light into 
the heart, and expels thence all doubts and 
anxieties ! The King of that country is he 
who died here for sinners. He loved us, 
and gave himself for us. And he hath 
gone to prepare a place for his people. If 
you belong to him, you are safe, and you 
may belong to him to-day. When he be- 
comes your hope, you will have a joyful 



140 

hope — a hope that maketh not ashamed. 
But till then, there is no hope for yon. 
With him is the fountain of life, that is, of 
happiness ; and we deceive ourselves when 
we look for true happiness elsewhere. When 
our hearts wander from him, they wander 
from life and joy. Abide in me, he says, 
and I will abide in you. Wliat are all the 
promises which the world can make in com- 
parison of this ? 



141 



SECTION VII. 



OF THE SIMPLICITY OF FAITH, AND THE 
CONNECTION BETWEEN FAITH AND 
JUSTIFICATION. 

It may appear to some that I have given 
rather a complex view of faith. Some wri- 
ters have thought that they simplified faith 
very much, by saying that it is a mere as- 
sent to the truth of divine testimony, I 
consider it to be no more, in its own na- 
ture ; but does it not embrace a variety of 
truth, and is it not obvious then that its 
simplicity or complexness depends entirely 
on the nature of the testimony to which 
the assent is given? An assent cannot be 
given to any thing without receiving an 
impression corresponding to it in all res- 
pects ; for the meaning of belief is just the 
impression made on the mind by the object 
presented to it. If the object be simple, 
the impression or belief will be simple ; 



142 

and if the object be a declaration involving 
a variety of subjects, the impression or be- 
lief will include them all. Now, as the 
Gospel addresses a variety of affections in 
the human mind, and manifests a variety 
of the Divine attributes, it cannot in one 
sense be called very simple; at the same 
time, as its meaning is level to the simplest 
capacity, that is to say, as the actions of 
which it gives the narration, do most un-^ 
equivocally declare and set forth the princi- 
ples from which they proceed ; in this re- 
spect it may be called simple. Some, in 
contending for the simplicity of faith, are 
not satisfied with affirming that it is always 
the same in itself whatever be its object, 
and that it is nothing more than the belief 
of the testimony of a credible witness, 
which is certainly true ; but they go so far 
as to maintain that the faith of the Gospel 
consists in the belief of the bare facts only 
of which it testifies, apart from their import. 
Now, this view of the subject is very much 
fitted to mislead. The faith of the Gospel, 
far instance, is not merely the belief of the 
facts that Jesus died and was raised from 
the dead, but also, and chiefly, of the impo7't 



143 

of these facts. It is not merely the belief 
of an insulated truth, but of a testimony 
including a variety of truths, to all of which 
it gives credit. The Jewish elders and 
priests believed a bare fact when they were 
persuaded that the resuiTection of Jesus 
had in reality taken place, while they did 
not believe the truths which are connected 
with and arise out of it. It is as truths 
or realities, that the doctrines of the Gros- 
pel are the objects of faith, but the belief 
of them includes a belief of their qualities 
or 'properties. The Gospel is not only a 
true saying, but a saying divinely excellent 
and supremely interesting and important ; 
and if it is not perceived in this light, then 
it is not believed to be what it is. In other 
words, the truth is not believed ; for it is as 
essential a part of the Divine testimony^ 
that the Gospel is good news of a plan of 
salvation, which is full of God, and altoge- 
ther worthy of him, and adapted to the 
chief of sinners, and free for their use, as 
it is that there is salvation at all, or that 
Jesus lived, and died, and rose again. He 
who does not understand the glorious mean- 
ing and design of these facts, does not be- 



144 

iieve the Gospel, because he does not be- 
lieve what is an essential part of the truth. 
Sometimes the expression simple faith is 
used to denote faith unaccompanied with, 
strong feelings of hope and of joy, and such, 
like sensations. This may respect certain 
parts of the truth which have the effect of 
producing an acknowledgment of the faith- 
fulness and kindness of God, a conviction 
that his favour is the one thing needful, a 
renunciation of all other hopes, an expecta- 
tion of deliverance, and a desire after God, 
while yet there is no joy, because other 
parts of the truth are not clearly discerned. 
Such a state of mind, in regard to the reve- 
lations made to David, is described in the 
42d and 43d Psalms. Even in such cases, 
however, there is a kind and degree of sen- 
sation produced in correspondence to what 
is really believed, so that the expression in 
question is scarcely correct. Faith in the 
Gospel will produce peace and joy in pro- 
portion to its strength, except when disease 
or constitutional tendencies prevent its na- 
tural operation : and when these fruits are 
wanting, we may consider the question as 
put, Where is your faith? The human mind 



145 

is easily shaken. Pain or weakness, sorrow 
or anxiety, temptation or remorse, may dis- 
tract the mind, and mingle their dark im- 
pressions with the glory of the Gospel sal- 
vation. It may please God to permit a 
jarring nerve, or a morbid sensitiveness of 
frame, to mar Christian joy even to the 
grave. It is seldom, however, that this 
state of mind, though the effect of natural 
causes, is altogether blameless. Has the 
Gospel remedy been steadily applied? Have 
self-indulgence and indolence been steadily 
resisted ? 

There is another meaning of the term 
simplicity when applied to faith, and that is 
unreservedness and unfeignedness of prin- 
ciple in religion, and an unquestioning de- 
pendence on the love of God in Christ, as 
the only hope and desire of the soul. This 
is the child-like spirit which is so much 
commended in Scriptiu'e, and holy peace 
dwells with it. 

Some persons again, when they speak of 
simple faith^ seem to view it as a mere ab- 
sence of expressed dissent, or as a readiness 
to sign their names at the foot of a creed, 
or a set of church-articles, as a proffer of 

Gr 



146 

their sanction and countenance to this or 
that system. To this it is a sufficient an- 
swer, that nothing can be correctly believ- 
ed, unless it makes a correct impression on 
the mind. The belief is merely an append- 
age and seal to the impression ; and unless 
our impression of Christianity correspond 
to all the high objects revealed in the Gos- 
pel, the simplicity of our faith will not en- 
sure its goodness. 

There is another way in which the ex- 
pression simple faith is used, namely, to 
express the freeness of justification. We 
become interested in the salvation of the 
Gospel simply by believing the Divine tes- 
timony, and not as a reward of the spiritual 
fruits or accompaniments of our faith.- 
For the glory of Divine grace, then, and 
also for the steadiness of our own comfort 
and peace, it is of great moment that our 
ideas on this subject be distinct. When we 
confound faith with its effects, either im- 
mediate or remote, we mar the simplicity 
and the conclusiveness of the reasoning 
of Scripture on the total opposition between 
faith and works in the matter of justifica- 
tion. 



147 

This leads us to consider the connection 
between faith and justification. How, and 
why, are these two things connected ? What 
is the meaning of such a sentence as this, 
" A man is justified by faith without 
" works ?" In such affirmations, the expres- 
sion " by faith" means simply, the gratui- 
tousness of the gift of pardon. Paul says, 
" Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by 
^' grace/' or free mercy, Rom. iv. 16. Faith 
is here directly contrasted with works or 
merits, as it is also in all passages where 
justification is the subject. We have fre- 
quent examples in the Bible of the Gospel 
being stated without any mention of faith .' 
Thus, " It is a faithful saying, and worthy of 
" all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came 
" into the world to save sinners," 1 Tim. i. 
15; as also 1 John v. 11. Luke xix. 10; 
These texts point to the will of God alone 
as the source of mercy, without making the 
slightest reference to any quality in man 
except his need. Faith then does not create 
nor produce pardon, nor does it receive par- 
don as a premium ; and yet faith and jus- 
tification are inseparable. \^^iat is the rea- 
son of this ? we may, or rather we ought 
G 2 



148 

to ask this question, for the Bible invites 
and encourages serious and humble discus- 
sion. The reason is evident. Faith as it 
looks to God, as it is the recipient of the 
glad tidings, marks the freeness of grace ; 
for what act can be more void of merit, or 
or of moral qualifications in general, than 
the mere belief of good news ? Faith as it 
looks to man, as it brings the gospel to act 
on the mind, is the instrument of sanctifica- 
tion. Pardon could not be enjoyed by those 
whose characters were unrenewed, and faith 
is the only instrument by which a spiritual 
change can be effected. Pardon is bestowed 
on sinners, because Christ hath suffered the 
punishment which they deserved, and hath 
magnified the law which they had dishonour- 
ed — and not on account of any good thing 
in themselves. That a pardon has been free- 
ly proclaimed through Christ, is the very 
thing which we are called on to believe, and 
in believing this we come to the actual pos- 
session of it. The act of amnesty is antece- 
dent to our belief, and independent of it — it 
remains firm and good, though we despise 
and reject it ; but by so doing, we exclude 
ourselves from its operation. Each indivi- 






149 

dual becomes specially interested in this am- 
nesty, by his belief of it — which special inte- 
rest is called by the Scripture^ justification. 
This belief gives the right direction to the 
affections, by presenting to them their proper 
objects — it restores their languid or feverish 
pulsation to a healthful tone — it expands and 
elevates them so, that they take delight in 
God, and in the way of ail his command- 
ments — it thus brings the worms of the 
earth into union with the King of Heaven, 
by introducing their hearts into the enjoy- 
ment of that glorious work, in which His 
infinite mind rests with eternal complacen- 
cy. This is generally called sanctification, 
or the renewing of the heart, begun on 
earth, completed in heaven. It is a pro- 
cess perfectly reasonable and intelligible on 
the acknowledged principles of the science 
of the human mind. It is quite reason- 
able then, surely, in a moral point of view, 
that justification should be connected with 
faith in the Divine testimony, seeing that 
faith is intelligibly connected, by the very 
constitution of nature, with a restoration to 
that spiritual character, which can alone 
g3 



150 

fit for communion with God, or the happi^ 
ness of heaven. 

But still let it be distinctly remembered 
and felt, that the pardon of sin rests on a 
work altogether independent of the faith, 
or love, or obedience of man. The Friend, 
and Brother, and Representative of sin- 
ners, has borne " the chastisement of their 
" peace," and satisfied the demands of jus- 
tice on their behalf. The sentence has been 
executed, and the records of heaven bear 
that " it is finished." The Divine deter- 
mination to pardon sinners through Christ, 
is freely and universally proclaimed as an 
act already passed, in the history of that 
great work on which it rests ; and all are 
invited to come in and partake of the pro- 
tection and healing influence of the par- 
don thus freely proclaimed. Those who 
believe in it are gradually sanctified by it. 
But let it not be supposed that they are 
gradually pardoned by it. The pardon was 
virtually obtained by Christ before they 
ever heard of it. By unbelief they would 
have excluded themselves from its protec- 
tion, as well as influence, altogether. By 



151 

believing it, they come under its protection ; 
and, according to the degree of their faith^ 
is their enjoyment of it, and their confor- 
mity to its spirit. He who believes the Di- 
vine testimony that the blood of Christ 
cleanseth from all sin, is within the scope 
of the pardon ; but, according to the vivid- 
ness, the constancy, and the distinctness of 
the impressions which this truth makes on 
his mind, will be his Christian statm-e and 
spiritual joy. We are told that in the hea- 
venly world, there are great varieties of 
glory and happiness. The lowest seat in 
that kingdom into which neither sin nor 
sorrow enter, is surely far beyond the 
brightest conceptions of our earthly minds, 
and. Oh, how opposite to our deserts ! but 
yet we are encouraged to aim high, and to 
cultivate a holy ambition to be near and 
like our Lord. The way to this attainment 
is to walk by faith whilst we are here; to 
have the cross and the glory of the Sa- 
viour ever present to the heart, as the springs 
of holy love and holy hope ; to receive the 
events and duties of life as the wholesome 
exercises by which he tries and strengthens 
the faith of his people : to look to him con- 



152 

tinually for abundant supplies of his com- 
forting and quickening Spirit ; to consider 
ourselves as the blood-bought children of 
our Father, whose eye is ever upon us, 
whose ear is ever open to us, whose arm 
ever supports us, whose love changeth not ; 
and to be in longing and watchful expecta- 
tion of the hour, when he will call us hence 
to the full enjoyment of our inheritance; 
to feel that our eternity has already begun, 
that our final choice is irrevocably made, 
and that, in this world and out of this world, 
and in all possible circumstances of exist- 
ence, Christ is and must be our only full 
and satisfying portion for ever. 

My object in this Essay has not been to 
represent faith as a difficult or perplexed 
operation, but to withdraw the attention 
from the act of believing, and to fix it on 
the object of belief, by showing that we can- 
not believe any moral fact without entering 
into its spirit, and meaning, and import- 
ance ; that we cannot believe in our own 
danger without apprehension, or in our own 
deliverance without joy ; and that we can- 
not believe in generous compassion, or self- 
sacrificing benevolence, without having on 



153 

our minds at the time impressions corre- 
sponding to these affections ; just as we can- 
not believe in a colour, unless we recal to 
our minds the impression corresponding to 
that colour. Even had there been no men- 
tion of faith made through the whole Bible, 
it is yet evident to common sense that its 
communications could be profitable to none 
but to those who believed them ; and it is 
no less evident that, unless these commimi- 
cations are understood, they cannot be be- 
lieved in their true meaning. Our business 
then is to understand the meaning of those 
communications which God has been pleas- 
ed to make to us in his word, and to receive 
them as substantial realities, altogether in- 
dependent of our admission or rejection. 
Certain facts have taken place, and certain 
principles exist in the government of the 
universe, whether we believe them or not. 
Om' disbelief of them neither destroys their 
existence, nor takes fi'om their importance ; 
they continue the same, and will continue 
to exercise an unlimited and uncontrollable 
influence over our destinies for ever. These 
facts and principles declare the character of 
God, and it is life eternal to know them. 



154 

To reject them, is to clash with Omnipo- 
tence ; and to be ignorant of them, is to be 
in moral darkness. 

We must prosecute our inquiries on this 
subject, not as critics, or judges, or scholars, 
but as sinners. It is not an interesting 
exercise for our faculties, but a pardon for 
our sins, and a cure for our spiritual diseas- 
es, that we must seek after. If we seek, we 
shall find, and we shall find them in Jesus 
Christ. But the discovery, though it will 
gladden, will not elevate. The great end 
for which we are called on to believe the 
Gospel is, that we may be conformed by it 
to the likeness of Him who was meek and 
lowly in heart. Our obedience to the law 
of God is thus the measure of our faith in 
the Gospel. Holy love to God and man is 
the natural fruit of faith in the Gospel, and 
it is also the fulfilling of the law. 

In conclusion, I would caution the read- 
er (and I desire to take the caution to 
my own heart) against entering on the 
consideration of these things in his own 
strength. There is an agent necessary 
in this matter, whose operation is v/on- 



155 

derful, whose high and gracious office it 
is, to take of the things that are Christ's 
and show them to the souls of sinners, and 
without whom no son of man has ever be- 
lieved unto everlasting life. An absolute, 
and child-like dependence on the Holy Spirit 
for light, and strength, and comfort, is a 
constituent part of the Christian charac- 
ter. The work of restoration, in all its 
parts, and in all its glory, is God's. The 
deepest hmnility is thus necessarily con- 
nected with the highest confidence. He 
who knows that the Almighty hath enter- 
ed the field in this cause, and that on his 
arm the cause rests, will, while he feels his 
own u.tter insignificance, yet confidently an- 
ticipate the result. That anticipation must 
be weakened by whatever confidence he 
may place in himself. The assistance of 
this agent is one of the gifts which Christ 
now reigns to bestow. It is given to those 
who ask it, and those who receive it live 
with God for ever. Oh what will one day 
be the feelings of those who have not asked 
it, and therefore have not received it ! 

THE END. 



Printed by Balfour and Clarke, 
Edinburgh, 1823. 



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